The Sloe-Weevil 
is absolutely disdained. Therefore the 
pregnant mother, thoroughly versed in her 
household affairs, refuses for her family 
any stone fruit other than the sloe. 
Let us watch her at work. During the 
first fortnight of June, the egg-laying is in 
full swing. At this period the sloes begin 
to assume a purple hue. They are hard, 
about as large as a pea, which is not far 
from their final size. The stone is woody 
and resists the knife; the kernel has acquired 
consistency. 
The fruits attacked show two kinds of 
pit, turned brown by the decayed tissues. 
Some, the more numerous, are shallow 
funnels nearly always filled up with a drop 
of hardened gum. At these points the insect 
has simply made a meal and has not gone 
deeper than about half the thickness of the 
pulpy layer. Later, the exudations from the 
wound have filled the cavity with a gummy 
plug. 
The other cavities, which are wider and 
form irregular polygons, penetrate to the 
stone. The opening measures nearly four 
millimetres’; and the walls, instead of slant- 
1.156 inch—Translator’s Note. 
209 
