248 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Produce of the nut weevil. 



much infested by weevils, were all empty, 

 caused a number of the hills of the large ants to 

 be collected in bags, and placed in different parts 

 about them. The ants immediately attacked the 

 weevils that were on the Vails and other parts, 

 and destroyed them so completely, that, in a very 

 short time, not a single one was to be seen; and 

 since that period they have never appeared on 

 his premises. 



The nut weevil is produced from the white 

 grub that is often found living in the interior of 

 the hazel nut. The history of its changes and 

 growth is not only singular but interesting; the 

 caterpillar or grub proceeds from a very small 

 brown egg that the parent deposits on the outside 

 of the nut, at a time when it is very soft and ten- 

 der. When the heat of the season has perfected 

 the little grub, it eats its way out of the egg, and 

 through the shell into the nut, without in the 

 least injuring the external appearance of the nut. 

 His chief food now is the coat of the nut, or that 

 part which afterwards hardens into the shell ; and 

 he continues to feed on this, and the interior 

 pulp, till such time as the one becomes too hard, 

 and the other too dry for his sustenance. He 

 then begins on the kernel, which is now grown 

 so large as to afford him support: and it is to be 

 remarked that this seems a most providential in- 

 stinct, for had he commenced his attacks on the 

 kernel when it was small, he would have de- 

 stroyed that on which all his future welfare de- 



