The Life of the Weevil 
by capillary action. The grub clothes itself 
in glue without exercising any special skill, 
merely by moving along. Each locomotory 
wave, each step, supplies its quota to the 
viscous doublet. This makes up for the 
losses which the larva cannot fail to suffer 
on the road as it roams from pasture to pas- 
ture; and, since the fresh material balances: 
the wastage of the old, a suitable coat is 
obtained, neither too thin nor too thick. 
The complete coating is rapidly effected. 
With the tip of a camel-hair pencil, I wash a 
grub in a little water. The viscosity dis- 
solves and disappears; and the water used 
for washing the larva, evaporated on a slip 
of glass, leaves a mark like that of a weak 
solution of gum arabic. I place the grub to 
dry on blotting-paper. When I now touch 
it with a straw, it no longer sticks to it; it 
has lost its coating of varnish. 
How will it replace it? This is a very 
simple matter. I allow the grub to move 
about at will for a few minutes. No more 
is needed; the layer of gum is restored; the 
creature sticks to the straw that touches it. 
To sum up, the varnish with which the 
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