The Life of the Weevil 
grub has no veil to tear, no wall to break 
through: the flesh of the apricot has become 
a pinch of brown dust. 
In the old days, the Anthidia,’ partly 
weavers of cotton, partly kneaders of resin, 
set me a difficult problem. Later came the 
Dung-Beetles of the pampas, the Phanzi,? 
some preparing, as preserved foodstuff, cakes 
of Cow-dung modelled in the shape of a 
pear, others sausage-meat kept fresh in clay 
jars. Both suggested the same difficulty: 
can habits and industries which have no 
mutual connection be explained as soon as 
we accept a common origin for these different 
manufacturers, who moreover are so much 
alike in conformation? The question crops 
up again, more urgently, with the four 
Rhynchites. 
That the influence of environment may, to 
some extent, have caused external modifica- 
tions; that the light may have accentuated 
the colouring; that the quantity of the food 
may have brought about some small varia- 
1 For these Cotten-bees and Resin-bees, cf. Bramble-bees 
and Others, by J. Henri Fabre, translated by Alexander 
Teixeira de Mattos: chaps. ix. and x.—Translator’s Note. 
2 Cf. The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles: chaps. ix. 
and x.—Translator’s Note. 
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