The Life of the Weevil 



shaped underneath. This is the larder of 

 the Bear Larinus. 



From the bottom of its cell the new-born 

 grub dives forthwith into this fleshy mass. 

 It cuts into it deep. Unreservedly, respect- 

 ing only the walls, it digs itself, in a couple 

 of weeks, a recess shaped like a sugar-loaf 

 and prolonged until it touches the stalk. 

 The canopy of this recess is a dome of florets 

 and hairs forced upwards and held in place 

 by an adhesive. The artichoke-heart is 

 completely emptied; nothing is respected 

 save the scaly walls. 



As its isolation led us to expect, the grub 

 of the Bear Larinus therefore eats solid 

 food. There is, however, nothing to 

 prevent it from adding to this diet the milky 

 exudations of the sap. 



This fare, in which solid matter predo- 

 minates, necessarily involves solid excreta, 

 which are unknown in the inmate of the blue 

 thistle. What does the hermit of the carline 

 thistle do with them, cooped up in a narrow 

 cell from which nothing can be shot outside? 

 It employs them as the other does its viscous 

 drops; it upholsters its cell with them. 



I see it curved into a circle with its mouth 

 58 



