THE BLACK CORN-WEEVIL 



63 



guide or sting and the egg is pushed down into the 

 hole. The sides of the hole are not straight, as some 

 of you may think, but the cavity has the shape of 

 a hen's egg with the larger end down in the kernel." 



"If the opening of the cavity is smaller than the 

 cavity, how can the weevil put her egg into it? 

 Either the eggs must 

 be soft or the cavi- 

 ties are bigger than 

 they need be/' Sam 

 Sprague remarked. 



"Both of your 

 ideas are correct," 

 the entomologist an- 

 swered. "The eggs 

 are soft so that they 

 can be squeezed 

 through the opening, 

 and they do not quite 

 fill the cavity." 



" Ha, ha, she don't make good fits, then, does she ?" 

 Sam laughed. 



"Oh, yes she does," the entomologist answered, 

 "but she makes the cavities of that shape and size 

 purposely, and I am sure it prevents the egg from 

 being pushed out when the corn dries and shrinks. 

 The eggs do not touch the walls of the cavity at all 

 points, and this is of help to the little grubs when 



FIG. 35. "The sides of the hole are 

 not straight, as some may think." 



