NUT WEEVIL. 2/9 
Naturalists have accounted for the introduction 
of the maggot into the nut in different ways. 
Some suppose that the parent weevil deposits its 
egg on the outside of the nut in its tender state, 
and that the maggot produced from it eats its way 
through the shell, without injuring the external 
coat : others, on the contrary, inform us that the 
female, when the time approaches to lay her eggs, 
chooses a good nut, which she pierces with her 
proboscis, and then deposits an egg in the cavity. 
We are unable to decide which of these methods 
is followed by the insect ; but the first appears the 
most probable when we examine the hole, which 
is larger than the weevil seems capable of making 
with its beak. The perforation does not in the 
smallest degree injure the nut, which continues to 
grow while the little grub within is living on its sub- 
stance. But the maggot, while he feasts upon the 
kernel, is not unmindful of the hole through w hich 
at a future time he must escape : accordingly he is 
directed by an unerring instinct to gnaw away the 
sides from time to time, so that at length they 
become thin, and afford him a passage to creep 
through. Before this happens, however, the nut 
grows to its full size, and falls to the ground, with- 
out hurting the little prisoner. About this time, 
having nearly exhausted all his provision, he pre- 
pares to leave his cell, and, after fairly gnawing 
himself out, begins to burrow into the earth and 
prepare a convenient retreat for the winter, during 
