The Nut-Weevil 
efforts, to clear the disproportionately nar- 
row passage. 
What happens inside the nut escapes me: 
it is hidden by the opaque shell; what I see 
outside is very simple and tells me of that 
which cannot be seen. The creature’s blood 
rushes from back to front; the humours of 
the organism change their position and accu- 
mulate in the part that has already emerged, 
which swells into a dropsy, attaining five or 
six times the diameter of the head. 
In this way a large cushion is formed on 
the kerb of the well, a girdle of energy 
which, by its dilatation and its intrinsic 
elasticity, gradually extricates the remaining 
segments, which are diminished in volume by 
the shifting of their fluid contents. 
It is a slow and very laborious business. 
The grub, in its free part, bends, draws it- 
self up and sways from side to side. We do 
the same when forcing a nail from side to 
side to extract it from its socket. The man- 
dibles gape widely, close and gape again, 
with no intention of laying hold. These 
movements represent the yo-heave-hoes with 
which the exhausted creature accompanies its 
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