The Life of the Weevil 
hardened and are full of juice. Are the 
appetites of the adult insect satisfied with 
the fruit of any kind of iris? This can be 
tested. 
Under the trellis-work of a wire cover, 
I place before the Weevil some green 
capsules of different origins. Jumbled up 
with the fruits of the yellow iris are those 
of the dwarf iris, the leg-of-mutton iris and 
the spurious iris. To these I add some 
foreign capsules, those of the pale Turkey 
iris (J. pallida, Lam.) and of the great 
bulbous iris (J. xiphoides, EuRu.), which 
differs so greatly from the others by the bulb 
which takes the place of the usual rhizone. 
Well, all these fruits are accepted as 
eagerly as those of the yellow iris. The 
Weevil riddles them with punctures, strips 
them bare, pierces them with windows. The 
capsules of my choosing and those from the 
banks of the stream, which are normally 
used, often lie side by side; the consumer 
makes no distinction between them, but goes 
without hesitation from one to the other, 
attacking them with a zeal which is in no 
wise impaired by the novelty of the dish. It 
considers everything good to eat, so long as 
302 
