The Elephant Weevil 
awl in length. As far as the perforating 
beak reaches, so far can the egg-probe reach, 
that inner beak. When working upon her 
acorn, the Weevil chooses the point of attack 
so that the two complementary instruments 
can both reach the desired point, the base of 
the fruit. 
The rest now stands _ self-explained. 
When the work of drilling is finished and 
the gallery ready, the mother turns round 
and places the tip of her abdomen over the 
entrance. She unsheathes and protrudes her 
internal mechanism, which readily sinks 
through the loose shavings. No sign 
appears of the directing probe, so quickly and 
discreetly does it work; no sign appears 
either when, after the egg has been placed 
in position, the instrument goes up again and 
gradually slips back into the abdomen. It 
is over; the mother departs and we have 
seen none of her little secrets. 
Was I not right to persist? An appar- 
ently insignificant fact has told me definitely 
what the Larini had already led me to 
suspect. The long-beaked Weevils have an 
inner probe, an abdominal rostrum, which 
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