The Life of the Weevil 



sated, a drop of gum oozes out "which, 

 after drying on the orifice of the well, marks 

 the spot which they have drained. 



Others are grazing. They attack the 

 tender capsules and skin them almost down 

 to the seeds. Despite their tiny size, they 

 nibble gluttonously; when several of them 

 are feasting together, they gnaw large areas; 

 but they do not actually reach the seeds, the 

 food reserved for the larvae. Many of them 

 stroll about, seem not to care for eating. 

 They meet, tease one another for a moment 

 and couple. 



I do not succeed in observing the method 

 of laying, which, however, must be much the 

 same as that of the other Weevils who use a 

 sound. The mother apparently bores a well 

 with her rostrum; she then turns and places 

 the egg in position by means of her oviscapt. 

 I have seen larvae quite recently hatched. 

 The vermin occupy the interior of a seed 

 whose substance is becoming organized and 

 beginning to grow firm. 



At the end of July, I open some capsules 



brought on the same day from the banks of 



the stream. In most of them the insect 



occurs in the three forms of larva, nymph 



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