OBSERVATIONS ON BLIGHT. 35 



time, as soon as you see him, place one hand below him, then 

 touch him lightly with a little bit of stick, and he will drop into 

 your open hand ; his own scheme for self-preservation will beat 

 him. Now roll him into a quill, or pill-box, and take him 

 home. Place him on a sheet of writing paper ; you will soon 

 see his shape — the head is furnished with a trunk, from which, 

 on each side, springs a feeler, bent at right-angles forward, so 

 that the trunk altogether looks to be three-pronged, like a 

 trident. The thorax and wing cases are brown, beautifully 

 mottled ; and an oblique line on each, pointing towards the 

 suture or meeting of the wing-cases, is much lighter coloured, 

 and gives the little beetle an appearance of having a letter V 

 obscurely chalked on its back. Its size altogether is rather 

 less than a hempseed. 



With the first sunshiny day in March, these weevils leave 

 their winter quarters, crawl up the trunk and along the twigs, 

 perch themselves so as to receive the full benefit of the sun's 

 rays, and plume themselves with their legs and feet all over, 

 trident and all, just in the same manner that a cat washes her 

 face with her paw : they then stretch out one leg at a time, 

 cramped, no doubt, by the long confinement ; they lift up their 

 wing-cases, and unfold two large transparent wings, which, 

 though twice as long as the wing-cases, were neatly folded up 

 and hidden under them, and then, launching themselves into 

 the air, they go roving about the orchards and gardens, their 

 little hearts in an ecstacy of freedom, and love, and happiness. 

 It is not long before each finds a suitable mate : no relations 

 raise objections; and the nuptials are consummated. Now I 

 will allow the gentleman weevil to go his way in quest of new 

 loves and conquests ; and in the mean time I will observe the 

 conduct of the lady. 



By the time the female is ready for the important task of 

 depositing her eggs, the spring has considerably advanced, the 

 apple-buds have burst, and the little bunches of blossom are 

 readily to be distinguished. The weevil soon finds out these; 

 and selecting a blossom every way to her mind, commences 

 her operations. The beak, or trunk, before alluded to, is fur- 

 nished at its extremity with short teeth, or mandibles: with 

 these, she gnaws a very minute hole into the calyx of the 

 future blossom, and continues gnawing until her trunk is 

 plunged in up to her eyes ; the trunk is then withdrawn, and 



