134 INSECT LIFE x 



your unaccountable proceedings, it will be the garde- 

 champetre, that inexorable representative of the law 

 amid the fallow fields. Long has he had his eye 

 upon you. He has so often seen you wandering 

 like a troubled ghost for no reason that he can per- 

 ceive ; has so often caught you seeking something 

 in the ground, or knocking down some bit of wall in 

 some hollow way with infinite precaution that he 

 begins to look on you as a suspicious character, a 

 vagabond, a gipsy, a tramp, or, at all events, a 

 maniac. If you have a botanical tin, to him it is 

 the ferret-cage of the poacher, and it will be im- 

 possible to convince him that you are not destroying 

 all the rabbits in the neighbouring warrens, regard- 

 less of the laws of the chase and the rights of the 

 owner. Beware ! However thirsty you may be, 

 lay no finger on a cluster in the vineyard hard by ; 

 the man of the municipal livery would be there, 

 delighted to bear witness and get at last an explana- 

 tion of your exasperatingly perplexing conduct. 



I must do myself the justice to say that I have 

 never committed such a misdeed, and yet one day 

 when I was lying on the sand, absorbed in the 

 domestic affairs of a Bembex, I heard beside me, " In 

 the name of the law, I summon you to follow me ! " 

 It was the garde-champetre of Les Angles, who hav- 

 ing vainly watched for an opportunity of catching 

 me in some offence, and being daily more desirous 

 of an answer to the riddle which tormented him, 

 had finally decided on a summons. An explanation 

 became necessary. The poor man did not appear 

 in the least convinced. " Bah ! bah ! " said he, " you'll 

 never get me to believe that you come and roast 



