230 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



in fact live inside the oak, which affords it at once 

 food and lodging. There, in the depths of the tree- 

 trunk, is its inviolable retreat. 



"With its two teeth, as hard and sharp as a car- 

 penter's tool, it cuts away, patiently, bit by bit, the 

 fresh wood imbued with sap. Each fragment thus 

 detached is a mouthful for the worm's nourishment; 

 but as it is by no means a rich diet there must be a 

 good deal of it to furnish enough nutriment. There- 

 fore the gnawing goes on without cessation, in all 

 directions, with a corresponding enlargement of the 

 domicile, which soon becomes a labyrinth of galler- 

 ies that go up and down and cross one another, pene- 

 trate farther into the trunk or approach the sur- 

 face, at the pleasure of the occupant, whose choice 

 is determined by its taste for morsels lying in this 

 or that direction. 



"For three or four years this is the worm's mode 

 of life. To make itself big and fat is its sole busi- 

 ness, and to this it devotes itself with vigor. I leave 

 you to imagine what must become of an oak tree 

 worked by a dozen of these gnawing creatures. Un- 

 der the bark, which is almost intact, the trunk is one 

 vast wound, perforated with galleries that are them- 

 selves littered with wormhole dust, and oozing with 

 a brown juice that smells like a tannery. Unless the 

 forester applies a remedy, and that speedily, the 

 enormous oak will be ruined. Leaving this care to 

 his charge, let us go on with our story. 



"When it has become big enough and fat enough, 

 after at least three years of continual feasting, the 



