The Life of the Weevil 



made familiar by the constant practice of 

 past generations. But the wanderer is living 

 under a torrid sky; she grazes on the alder- 

 leaf, whose flavour and nutritive properties 

 must differ from those of the family diet; 

 she works at an unknown piece, though it is 

 not unlike the normal piece in shape and 

 size. What changes has this disturbance of 

 its diet and climate effected in the insect's 

 characteristics? 



Absolutely none. In vain I pass the 

 magnifying-glass over the exploiter of the 

 alder and over the exploiter of the hazel- 

 bush, of whom the latter has reached me 

 from the heart of the Correze by post. I 

 see not the least difference between the two, 

 even in the smallest details. Can the 

 method of the industry have been modified? 

 Without seeing the work done with a hazel- 

 leaf, I boldly assert that it is similar to that 

 obtained with an alder-leaf. 



Change the food and the climate, change 

 the materials to be worked: if it can adapt 

 itself to the new conditions imposed upon it, 

 the insect persists, immutable in its craft, 

 habits and organization; if it cannot, it dies. 

 To be as one was or not to be : that is what 

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