The Life of the Weevil 
permit me to observe the mother’s methods 
more closely. Does she lay several eggs in 
this rich morsel? There is enough to satisfy 
a numerous brood. Or does she lay only 
one, repeating here what she does on the 
corymbed carlina, a middling ration? There 
is nothing to tell us that the insect is not to 
some extent versed in domestic economy and 
does not proportion the number of the guests 
to the abundance of the provisions. 
If this point is obscure, another and one 
of greater interest is quite evident: the Bear 
Larinus is a clear-sighted botanist. She 
recognizes as carlina, the family food, two 
very dissimilar plants, which none of us, 
unless he were an expert, would have thought 
of grouping together; she accepts as botanic- 
al equivalents the gorgeous rosette, eight- 
een inches across, whose spokes lie on the 
ground, and the shabby-looking thistle that 
stands erect and spare. 
The Spangled Larinus extends her domain 
still farther. Though she has not the fierce 
thistle with the white heads, she recognizes 
the good qualities of another vegetable hor- 
ror, one with pink heads this time. This is 
the common horse-thistle (Cirsium lanceo- 
84 
