The Haricot-Weevil 



so young. It roams about, anxious to find 

 board and lodging as soon as possible. 



It attains its object, for the most part, 

 within the twenty-four hours. I see the 

 worm making a hole in the tough skin of the 

 seed; I watch its efforts; I catch sight of it 

 half-sunk in the beginning of a gallery whose 

 entrance is dusty with white flour, the refuse 

 from the boring. It works its way in and 

 penetrates into the heart of the seed. Its 

 evolution is so rapid that it will emerge in 

 the adult form in five weeks' time. 



This hasty development permits several 

 generations to take place in the course of the 

 year. I have seen four. On the other hand, 

 an isolated couple supplied me with a family 

 of eighty. Let us consider only half this 

 number, to allow for the two sexes, which I 

 take to be equally represented. At the end 

 of the year, the couples resulting from this 

 source will therefore be represented by the 

 fourth power of forty, reaching in terms of 

 larvas the frightful total of over two and a 

 half millions. What a heap of haricots such 

 a legion would destroy! 



The larva's methods remind us at all 

 289 



