The Life of the Weevil 
softened by incipient decay, even seasoned 
with a touch of mildew. I prepare them to 
her liking by keeping them in a jar on a 
bed of moist sand. 
Thus treated, the grub hatched in June 
soon increases in size. Two months are 
enough to turn it into a handsome orange- 
yellow larva, which, when its cell is broken 
open, suddenly, with the violence of a spring 
released, straightens its curved body and 
tosses about. Observe its slender form, 
much less stout than that of the other 
Weevilsin general. This is the only instance 
in which lack of corpulence in the larva 
denotes an adult of an exceptional class. I 
shall say no more on the subject of the grub: 
its description would be of no particular 
interest. 
The matter deserves looking into more 
closely. It is the end of September; we have 
been suffering from an extraordinarily hot 
and dry summer. The dog-days seem deter- 
mined to last for ever. The forests are 
ablaze in the Ardéche, the Bordeaux and the 
Roussillon districts; whole villages have been 
burnt down on the slopes of the Alps; in 
front of my door, a careless passer-by, throw- 
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