The Pea-Weevil: The Larva 
mean improvement. The race fares better 
by remaining frugal. On her horse-bean, 
on her everlasting pea, the Bruchus founded 
colonies in which the infant mortality was 
low. ‘There was room for all. On the pea, 
a delectable sweetmeat, the greater part of 
the guests die of starvation. The rations 
are few and the claimants legion. 
We will linger over this problem no 
longer. Let us enquire into the grub which 
has become the sole owner of the pea through 
the death of its brothers. It has had no 
part in that decease; chance has favoured it, 
that is all. In the centre of the pea, a 
luxurious solitude, it performs a grub’s duty, 
the one and only duty of eating. It gnaws 
the walls around and enlarges its cell, which 
it always fills completely with its fair round 
belly. It is a plump and shapely creature, 
glistening with health. If I tease it, it turns 
lazily in its cell and wags its head. This 
is its way of complaining of my rudeness. 
Let us leave it in peace. 
The anchorite thrives so well and so fast 
that, by the dog-days, it is already making 
ready for its coming liberation. The adult 
has not the necessary tools to open for her- 
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