The Life of the Weevil 
made familiar by the constant practice of 
past generations. But the wanderer is living 
under a torrid sky; she grazes on the alder- 
leaf, whose flavour and nutritive properties 
must differ from those of the family diet; 
she works at an unknown piece, though it is 
not unlike the normal piece in shape and 
size. What changes has this disturbance of 
its diet and climate effected in the insect’s 
characteristics ? 
Absolutely none. In vain I pass the 
magnifying-glass over the exploiter of the 
alder and over the exploiter of the hazel- 
bush, of whom the latter has reached me 
from the heart of the Corréze by post. I 
see not the least difference between the two, 
even in the smallest details. Can the 
method of the industry have been modified? 
Without seeing the work done with a hazel- 
leaf, I boldly assert that it is similar to that 
obtained with an alder-leaf. 
Change the food and the climate, change 
the materials to be worked: if it can adapt 
itself to the new conditions imposed upon it, 
the insect persists, immutable in its craft, 
habits and organization; if it cannot, it dies. 
To be as one was or not to be: that is what 
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