The Life of the Weevil 
them in the centre of the scroll, almost at the 
corner where the rolling begins; we come 
upon them between the different layers and 
even near the edge sealed in glue with the 
signet of the rostrum. 
Without interrupting her work on the 
cylinder, without relaxing the tension of her 
claws, the mother laid them between the 
edges of the fold which she was forming, as 
she felt them coming, duly matured, at the 
end of her oviduct. She produces life in the 
very midst of her labours, amid the wheels of 
the machine which would be thrown out of 
gear if she snatched a moment’s rest. 
Industry and procreation go hand-in-hand. 
Short-lived, with but two or three weeks 
before her and an expensive family to estab- 
lish, the mother Rhynchites would not dare 
to waste time in being churched. 
This is not all: on the same leaf, not far 
from the cylinder that is being laboriously 
rolled, we almost always find the male. 
What is he doing there, the lazybones? Is 
he watching the work as a mere onlooker, 
who happened to be passing and stopped to 
see the wheels go round? Is he interested 
152 
