Change of Diet 



does not appear to make frequent use of the 

 Rhynchites, as is proved by my infrequent 

 discovery of them amid the mass of my 

 numerous excavations. For the first time, 

 perhaps, passing through a vineyard, she saw 

 the rich Beetle gleaming on a leaf; it was 

 not. for her a dish In current consumption, 

 consecrated by the ancient usages of the fam- 

 ily. It was something novel, exceptional, 

 extraordinary. Well, this extraordinary 

 creature is recognized with certainty as a 

 Weevil and stored away as such. The glit- 

 tering cuirass of the Rhynchites goes to take 

 its place beside the grey cloak of the Phyno- 

 tomus. No, it is not the colour that guides 

 the choice. 



Neither Is it the shape. Cerceris arenaria 

 hunts any medium-sized Weevil. I should 

 be putting the reader's patience to too great 

 a test if I attempted to give in this place a 

 complete inventory of the specimens Identi- 

 fied in her larder. I will mention only two, 

 which my latest searches around my village 

 have revealed. The Wasp goes hunting on 

 the holm-oaks of the neighbouring hills the 

 Pubescent Brachyderes (B. puhescens) and 

 the Acorn-weevil {Balaninus glandium). 

 What have these two Beetles in common as 

 regards shape? I mean by shape not the 

 i8i 



