The Pea-Weevil: The Eggs 
keel. Others, more numerous these, explore 
the blossoms and take possession of them. 
The laying-time has not yet come. It is a 
mild morning; the sun is hot without being 
oppressive. ‘This is the moment for nuptial 
exploits and for raptures amid the splendour 
of the light. Life therefore is enjoyed for 
a little while. Couples form, soon part and 
soon come together again. When the heat 
grows too great, towards the middle of the 
day, each Jack and Jill retire into the shade, 
in a fold of the flower whose secret recesses 
they know so well. To-morrow they will 
resume the festival and the next day too, 
until the pod, splitting the sheath of its keel, 
appears outside, more and more swollen 
from day to day. 
A few pregnant mothers, harder-pressed 
than the rest, confide their eggs to the grow- 
ing pod, as it issues flat and tiny from its 
floral scabbard. These eggs laid pre- 
maturely, pushed out perhaps through the 
exigencies of an ovary which can wait no 
longer, seem to me in serious danger. ‘The 
seed in which the grub is to make its home 
is as yet but a feeble granule, without sub- 
stance and without floury contents. No 
235 
