The Life of the Weevil 



from his stronghold, some crevice in the 

 rocks, and to browse before his door upon 

 the grasses, mosses and hchens made tender 

 by the flood. It takes a cataclysm to make 

 that one travel ! 



The wild freshets of the Aygues succeed 

 in doing so. They bring into my part of 

 the world and deposit in the osier-thickets 

 the largest of our Snails, Helix pomatia, the 

 glory of Burgundy.^ Rolled down the 

 grassy mountain-slopes by the showers, the 

 exile defies immersion within the water-tight 

 cover of his chalky operculum; he endures the 

 jolting, thanks to his strong shell. He 

 travels by stages, from one osier-bed to 

 another. He descends as far even as the 

 Rhone and colonizes the He des Rats and 

 the lie du Colombier opposite the mouth 

 of the Aygues. 



Whence does he come, this enforced 

 emigrant, whom one would vainly seek else- 

 where in the land of the olive? He loves a 

 moderate temperature, green turf, cool 

 shades. His place of origin is certainly not 



1 H. pomatia is the Large Edible Snail. — 'Translator's 

 Note. 



i8o 



