292 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



the plant is at the requisite stage, if I may go by what 

 the Bruchns pisi has already taught me ; the flowers are 

 abundant, and the pods are equally so ; still green, and of 

 all sizes. 



I place on a plate two or three handfuls of the 

 infested haricots, and set the populous heap in the 

 full sunlight by the edge of my bed of beans. I can 

 imagine what will happen. Those insects which are 

 already free, and those which the stimulus of the 

 sunshine will presently liberate, will emerge and take 

 to their wings. Finding the maternal haricot close at 

 hand they will take possession of the vines. I shall 

 see them exploring pods and flowers, and before very 

 long they will lay their eggs. That is how the pea- 

 weevil would behave under similar conditions. 



But no : to my surprise and confusion, matters do 

 not fall out as I foresaw. For a few minutes the insects 

 bustle about in the sunlight, opening and closing their 

 wing-covers to ease the mechanism of flight; then one by 

 one they fly away, mounting in the luminous air ; they 

 grow smaller and smaller to the sight, and are quickly 

 lost to view. My persevering attentions have not met 

 with the slightest success ; not one of the weevils has 

 settled on my haricots. 



When the joys of liberty have been tasted will they 

 return — to-night, to-morrow, or later ? No, they do not 

 return. All that week, at favourable hours, I inspect the 

 rows of beans pod by pod, flower by flower ; but never 

 a Bruchus do I see, nor even an tgg. Yet the season is 

 propitious, for at this very moment the mothers impri- 

 soned in my jars lay a profusion of eggs upon the dry 

 haricots. 



