The Life of the Weevil 
within and coated in every part with the 
intestinal glue, which becomes a lustrous red- 
dish material, like a shellac varnish. The 
castle-keep measures one and a half centi- 
metres in height.* 
Towards the end of August most of the 
recluses are in the perfect state. Many have 
even burst the vaulted ceiling of their home; 
rostrum in air, they investigate the weather, 
awaiting the hour of departure. The 
cardoon-head by this time is quite dry upon 
its withered stalk. Let us strip it of its 
scales and, with a pair of scissors, clip its 
fur as closely as possible. 
The result thus obtained is truly curious. 
-It is a sort of convex brush, pierced here and 
there with deep cavities wide enough to 
admit an ordinary lead-pencil. The sides 
consist of a reddish-brown wall covered with 
incrustations of hairy debris. Each of these 
cavities is the cell of an adult Larinus. At 
first sight one would take the thing for the 
comb of some extraordinary Wasps’-nest. 
Let us mention a fourth member of the 
same group. This is the Spangled Larinus 
(L. conspersus, SCH.), smaller in size than 
1.585 inch—Translator’s Note. 
66 
