Page 108 - The Signs Leading to Faith

The Signs Leading To Faith
106

EXAMPLES OF SIGNS OF FAITH FROM LIVING THINGS
The Acorn Weevil’s Boring Mechanism

Aperson needs tools to hole in acorn, and yet there is one
tiny insect that spends its whole life doing just that without
any difficulty. The acorn weevil, which has a tube on its head

that is longer than its abdomen, lives on valonia, the woody
fruit of an oak tree. At the edge of this tube is a minute but very
sharp saw tooth.

In normal times, this insect keeps its tube at the same
angle as its body so that it can walk. When it climbs an oak

tree, it lowers the tube toward it in order to rest the tube’s saw-
like edge on the acorn. Moving the tube by turning its head to
the left and right, it begins to bore a hole in the acorn. The in-

sect’s head, which is ideally designed for this purpose, ex-
hibits an extraordinary freedom of movement.

As the insect conducts its drilling, it also feeds itself by
eating the fruit inside the acorn. However, it does not touch
the larger part of the fruit, but rather keeps it for its as-yet un-

born young. When the drilling process is completed, the insect
deposits an egg in the channel opened in the acorn. The egg
gradually turns into a larva, which starts to eat the acorn. The
more it eats, the more it grows, and the more it grows, the

more it eats. Thus, it continues to make enough room for itself
within the acorn.

This continues until the acorn falls from the branch. The
noise and violent motion it makes as it falls tell the larva that
the time has come for it to emerge. Thanks to its strong teeth, it

enlarges the hole and emerges through it. The first thing it