The Life of the Weevil 



pie made from the sanies of a corpse. The 

 grub for which these victuals are intended 

 hatches in an upper story, separated from 

 the larder by a clay partition. 



How will this grub breathe, first in its cell 

 upstairs and then in the lower room, when 

 it has perforated the floor and reached the 

 cold pasty? The house is a piece of pot- 

 tery, an earthenware jar whose wall some- 

 times measures a finger's-breadth in thickness. 

 Air cannot possibly pass through such a ca- 

 sing. The mother, who knew this, made 

 arrangements accordingly. Along the 

 gourd's neck she contrived a narrow passage 

 through .which a flow of air is possible. 

 Without resorting to obstruction by means 

 of varnish or anything else, we see quite 

 plainly that this minute tunnel is a ventila- 

 ting-shaft. 



Exposed on her fruit to the danger from 

 the gum, the Weevil excels the meat-packer 

 of the pampas in her delicate precautions. 

 Over the -spot where the egg lies, she raises 

 an obelisk, the equivalent of the gourd's 

 neck in the work of the Phanaeus ; to give the 

 germ air, she leaves the axis of the nipple 

 hollow, as does the potter. In either case, 

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