The Iris-Weevil 



Ant; we know that the Cicada sings, without 

 having a very exact notion of the singer, who 

 is confused with others; we have perhaps 

 vouchsafed a careless glance to the splen- 

 dours of the Butterflies; and with this, for 

 the immense majority, entomology begins 

 and ends. What layman would risk naming 

 an insect, even one of the more remarkable? 



The Provencal peasant, who is pretty quick 

 at observing things that have to do with the 

 land, has a dozen expressions at the very 

 most to denominate indiscriminately the vast 

 world of insects, though he possesses a very 

 rich vocabulary by which to describe plants. 

 This or that bit of weed which one would 

 think was known only to the botanists is to 

 him a familiar object and bears a special 

 name of its own. 



Now the vegetarian insect is, as a rule, 

 scrupulously faithful to its food-plant, so 

 that, with botany and entomology going hand 

 in hand, the beginner is spared many a hesita- 

 tion. The plant exploited gives the name 

 of the exploiting insect. Who, for instance, 

 does not know the splendid yellow iris? 

 The green cutlasses of its leaves and its 

 yellow cluster of flowers are mirrored in the 

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