‘The Elephant Weevil 
herself on her hind-legs and stands on the 
tripod formed by the tip of the wing-cases 
and of the hinder tarsi. Nothing could be 
droller than this strange well-sinker, standing 
erect and drawing her nasal rapier towards 
her. 
The trick is done: the drill is now held 
plumb. The boring begins. The method 
is that which I saw employed in the woods, 
on the day when the wind was so strong. 
Very slowly, the insect veers from right to 
left and from left to right alternately. Her 
tool is not a gimlet, a spiral, corkscrew- 
like implement which enters as the result of 
a rotary movement always in one direction; 
it is a trocar which progresses by successive 
bites, by eating away now in one direction, 
now in another. 
Before continuing, let me give room to an 
accidental fact, which is too striking to be 
passed over. On various occasions I have 
found the insect dead at its work. The 
deceased occupies a strange position, which 
would give food for laughter if death were 
not always a serious event, especially when 
it comes suddenly, in the midst of toil. The 
boring-tool is implanted in the acorn merely 
95 
