The Elephant Weevil 



herself on her hind-legs and stands on the 

 tripod formed by the tip of the wing-cases 

 and of the hinder tarsi. Nothing could be 

 droller than this strange well-sinker, standing 

 erect and drawing her nasal rapier towards 

 her. 



The trick is done: the drill is now held 

 plumb. The boring begins. The method 

 is that which I saw employed in the woods, 

 on the day when the wind was so strong. 

 Very slowly, the insect veers from right to 

 left and from left to right alternately. Her 

 tool is not a gimlet, a spiral, corkscrew- 

 like implement which enters as the result of 

 a rotary movement always in one direction; 

 it is a trocar which progresses by successive 

 bites, by eating away now in one direction, 

 now in another. 



Before continuing, let me give room to an 

 accidental fact, which is too striking to be 

 passed over. On various occasions I have 

 found the insect dead at its work. The 

 deceased occupies a strange position, which 

 would give food for laughter if death were 

 not always a serious event, especially when 

 it comes suddenly, in the midst of toil. The 

 boring-tool is implanted in the acorn merely 



95 



