The Life of the Weevil 



a young grub, hatched before my eyes, nibble 

 as its first mouthfuls this tender woolly mass, 

 this moist cake flavoured with tannin. 



This dainty, juicy and easy of digestion, 

 like all nascent organic matter, is found only 

 at this particular spot; and it is solely here, 

 between the cup and the base of the seed- 

 lobes, that the Weevil lodges her egg. The 

 insect knows to a nicety the position of the 

 morsels best-suited to the feeble stomach of 

 the new-born larva. 



Above this is the comparatively coarse 

 bread of the seed-lobes. Refreshed by its 

 first meal at the drinking-bar, the grub enters 

 it, not directly, but through the tunnel opened 

 by the mother's probe, a tunnel littered with 

 crumbs, with half-mastidated fragments. 

 This light farinaceous food, prepared in a 

 column of appropriate height, gives strength ; 

 and the grub next penetrates right into the 

 firm substance of the acorn. 



These facts explain the egg-layer's tactics. 

 What is her object when, before proceeding 

 to bore the hole, she inspects her acorn, 

 above, below, in front and behind, with fas- 

 tidious care? She is making sure that the 

 100 



