The Life of the Weevil 
posal, the hairs and remnants of the florets 
of its thistle. Its cement is used only to 
plaster and glaze the work. The Cionus’ 
larva, on the other hand, employs nothing 
but the oozings of its intestine; consequently 
the little hut resulting is of incomparable 
perfection. 
Besides the Spotted Larinus, my notes 
mention other Weevils, for instance, the 
Garlic-Weevil (Brachycerus algirus), whose 
larve possess the art of coating their cells 
with a thin glaze provided by the rump. 
This intestinal artifice seems, therefore, to be 
pretty frequently employed by the Weevils 
that build little chambers in which the met- 
amorphosis is to take place; but none of 
them excel in it as does the Cionus. Its 
task becomes yet more interesting when we 
consider that, in the same factory, after a 
very brief interval, three different products 
are compounded: first a liquid glue, a means 
of adhesion to the swaying support of the 
mullein lashed by the winds; then a siccative 
fluid which transforms the sticky coating 
into gold-beater’s-skin; and lastly a cement 
which strengthens the bladder separated 
from the larva by a sort of moult. What a 
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