87 



instead of the kernel ; sometlme^i the 

 latter is only half consumed. If it hap- 

 pens that tlie larva is hatched before the 

 kernel is sufficiently grown, it finds only 

 nourishment so long as this lasts, and it 

 afterwards dies, as it cannot creep out 

 and go to another nut, being destitute of 

 feet, the nut will then be found empty. 

 But if the kernel be full grown, so as to 

 fill the nut, then the larva will have 

 sufficient nourisliment till it becomes 

 perfect ; and it lives within it, though one 

 cannot see any sign of it outwardly, ex- 

 cept a few small brown dots. In the 

 nut represented in fig. 22, are such 

 dots to be seen by letter «., and these are 

 always a sure sign of a larva in the inside 

 of it, whether it be dead or alive. After 

 the larva has acquired its perfections, it 

 eats through the hard shell of the nut, 

 either when still on the tree or when 

 fallen down on the ground, which latter 

 case happens very often, for the nuts 

 inhabited by larvse ripen sooner than 

 others, and consequently fall ofi' sooner. 

 In such nuts then, there is always a round 



