The Pea-Weevil: The Larva 
men, with a long boring-tool. The male, a 
little smaller, is clad in black. Both sexes 
have dull-red legs and thread-like antenne. 
In order to leave the pea, the exterminator 
of the Bruchus opens herself a window in the 
centre of the disk which the Weevil’s grub 
has bored in the skin with a view to its future 
deliverance. The devoured has prepared 
the way out for the devourer. This detail 
enables us to guess the rest. 
When the preliminaries of the metamor- 
phosis are finished, when the exit-hole is 
bored, furnished with its lid, a surface cuticle, 
the Chalcis comes bustling along. She 
inspects the peas, still on the plant, in their 
pods; she tries them with her antenne; she 
discovers, hidden under the general outer 
wrapper of the pod, the weak points in the 
ceiling formed by the skin. Then, raising 
her sounding-rod, she thrusts it through the 
pod and pierces the thin lid. However 
deeply secreted in the centre of the pea, the 
Weevil, whether larva or nymph, is reached 
by the long implement. It receives an egg 
in its tender flesh; and the trick is done. 
Without any chance of defence, for it is by 
now either a torpid grub or else a nymph, 
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