The Life of the Weevil 
a young grub, hatched before my eyes, nibble 
as its first mouthfuls this tender woolly mass, 
this moist cake flavoured with tannin. 
This dainty, juicy and easy of digestion, 
like all nascent organic matter, is found only 
at this particular spot; and it is solely here, 
between the cup and the base of the seed- 
lobes, that the Weevil lodges her egg. The 
insect knows to a nicety the position of the 
morsels best-suited to the feeble stomach of 
the new-born larva. 
Above this is the comparatively coarse 
bread of the seed-lobes. Refreshed by its 
first meal at the drinking-bar, the grub enters 
it, not directly, but through the tunnel opened 
by the mother’s probe, a tunnel littered with 
crumbs, with half-masticated fragments. 
This light farinaceous food, prepared in a 
column of appropriate height, gives strength; 
and the grub next penetrates right into the 
firm substance of the acorn. 
These facts explain the egg-layer’s tactics. 
What is her object when, before proceeding 
to bore the hole, she inspects her acorn, 
above, below, in front and behind, with fas- 
tidious care? She is making sure that the 
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