46 
PLANTS AND INSECTS 
the nuts have been gathered from the trees belong to a species that lays 
its eggs just about the time the burrs begin to burst. The eggs aire so 
tiny they can scarcely be seen by the naked eye and are often eaten 
unwittingly by those who go chestnutting in the fall. They do not in¬ 
jure the fresh chestnuts, which retain their sweet flavor for a while, 
and no harm comes from swallowing the eggs the nuts contain. But 
after the nuts have been stored away for a while, the eggs hatch and 
the larvae destroy the kernels. When full-grown, they eat large holes 
in the shells of the nuts and emerge. 
Nature has made a, very unique provision' among these insects for 
preserving the race through years in which there are failures in nut- 
crops. A small per cent of the grubs of each season, instead of chang¬ 
ing into adults the next year, remain for two years in their cells in the 
earth, then transform into) beetles and emerge with those that develop 
from the previous season’s generation of larvae. Thus, should there be 
no nuts one year to sustain that year’s generation of beetles, there 
would be beetles anyway the next year to perpetuate the species. In¬ 
stances have been known in which larvae remained until the third year 
