Note 1 — Chapter XXXVIII · THE GRAIN-WEEVIL
Florence Constable Bicknell translation
“Ah, how far out you are in your reckoning! In the course of one season a weevil lays from eight to ten thousand eggs, from which spring as many larvæ, each gnawing a grain. A liter measure1 contains, on an average, ten thousand grains of wheat. To feed the family of one weevil, therefore, nearly a liter of wheat is needed. Suppose there are a thousand pairs of these insects in a granary; that would be enough to destroy ten hectoliters of wheat, rye, barley, or oats; for they attack all kinds of grain impartially.”