THE CURCULIO. 35 



look so much alike in size and color, that at a short distance they cannot be distin- 

 guished from each other. 



Many people think insects too small to be worthy of much attention. Such 

 people should consider the single grain of wheat, or the individual rain-drop. The 

 Coral insect, in the abstract, is wonderfully insignificant, but the Coral insect in the 

 concrete changes the channels and currents of the ocean, and builds up islands from 

 the sea. 



Fig. i, in this Plate, represents the Curculio, as nearly correct in size, form, and 

 color, as can be made in a drawing on stone. The antennae are rather too heavy, but 

 it is difficult to get the exact size of an object so minute ; and the chest appears too 

 deep, but a close examination will show that this apparent disproportion is owing 

 to the position of the upper part of the fore leg. With these corrections under- 

 stood, any one will be able to identify the living Curculio by comparing it with this 

 figure. 



Fig. 2 does not represent the Curculio as seen flying that would be difficult 

 but as a dead one appears with the wings and legs spread out. 



Fig. 3 shows a portion of earth with the young Curculios in their cells, under- 

 going their transformations. This piece of earth was taken from the centre of a 

 flower-pot that had been filled two-thirds full of common garden mould, and on 

 which the punctured plums that had fallen from a Green Gage tree had been thrown 

 every day as they fell. The number of cells will be in proportion to the number of 

 Plums thrown into the flower-pot. I have seen such earth almost as cellular as a 

 honey-comb. 



The effect of drought can be tested readily by experiments of this kind. Place 

 one such flower-pot in a building, and throw water on it occasionally, as it would be 

 rained upon out-of-doors, and let another remain perfectly dry. The grubs in the 

 first will come out beetles; in the other they will perish apparently for want of 

 moisture. This fact will have an important bearing when We come to consider the 

 effects of the vicissitudes of the weather, not only upon this but upon many other 

 insects which have a great influence upon human affairs. 



The Plum crop fails for a series of years, and then for a single season will be 

 abundant. I have raised full crops of Nectarines, Apricots, and Plums, every year 

 for ten years in succession ; but all those crops, except one, were the result of most 



