The Life of the Weevil 



permit me to observe the mother's methods 

 more closely. Does she lay several eggs in 

 this rich morsel? There is enough to satisfy 

 a numerous brood. Or does she lay only 

 one, repeating here what she does on the 

 corymbed carlina, a middling ration? There 

 is nothing to tell us that the insect is not to 

 some extent versed in domestic economy and 

 does not proportion the number of the guests 

 to the abundance of the provisions. 



If this point is obscure, another and one 

 of greater interest is quite evident: the Bear 

 Larinus is a clear-sighted botanist. She 

 recognizes as carlina, the family food, two 

 very dissimilar plants, which none of us, 

 unless he were an expert, would have thought 

 of grouping together; she accepts as botanic- 

 al equivalents the gorgeous rosette, eight- 

 een inches across, whose spokes lie on the 

 ground, and the shabby-looking thistle that 

 stands erect and spare. 



The Spangled Larinus extends her domain 

 still farther. Though she has not the fierce 

 thistle with the white heads, she recognizes 

 the good qualities of another vegetable hor- 

 ror, one with pink heads this time. This is 

 the common horse-thistle (Cirsium lanceo- 

 8 4 



