The Pea-Weevil: The Larva 



skin, all around the circumference. The 

 perfect insect will only have to heave with 

 its shoulders, to strike a blow or two with its 

 head, in order to raise the lid and knock it 

 off, like the lid of a box. The exit-hole 

 shows through the transparent skin of the 

 pea in the shape of a large circular spot, 

 darkened by the obscurity within. What 

 happens below cannot be seen, hidden as it 

 is behind a sort of ground-glass window. 



A pretty invention, this little port-hole, 

 this barricade against the invader, this trap- 

 door lifted with a push of the hermit's 

 shoulder when the time has come. Shall we 

 give the Bruchus the credit of it? Could the 

 ingenious insect imagine the enterprise, 

 ponder a plan and work upon a scheme of 

 its own devising? This would be a fine 

 triumph for a Weevil's brain. Before 

 deciding, let us hear what experiment has to 

 tell us. 



I skin some inhabited peas; I save them 

 from drying too quickly by placing them in 

 glass tubes. The grubs do as well here as 

 in the intact peas. The preparations for the 

 deliverance are made at the proper time. 



If the miner acts on its own inspiration, 

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