AN INVADER 283 



pioneers of culture brought us from their gardens ? 

 Were you known to antiquity ? 



Here the insect, an impartial and well-informed 

 witness, answers : " No ; in our country antiquity was 

 not acquainted with the haricot. The precious vegetable 

 came hither by the same road as the broad bean. It is 

 a foreigner, and of comparatively recent introduction 

 into Europe." 



The reply of the insect merits serious examination, 

 supported as it is by extremely plausible arguments. 

 Here are the facts. For years attentive to matters 

 agricultural, I had never seen haricots attacked by any 

 insect whatever ; not even by the Bruchidae, the licensed 

 robbers of leguminous seeds. 



On this point I have questioned my peasant neighbours. 

 They are men of the extremest vigilance in all that 

 concerns their crops. To steal their property is an 

 abominable crime, swiftly discovered. Moreover, the 

 housewife, who individually examines all beans intended 

 for the saucepan, would inevitably find the malefactor. 



All those I have spoken to replied to my questions 

 with a smile in which I read their lack of faith in my 

 knowledge of insects. ^'^ Sir," they said, " you must 

 know that there are never grubs in the haricot bean. It 

 is a blessed vegetable, respected by the weevil. The pea, 

 the broad bean, the vetch, and the chick-pea all have 

 their vermin ; but the haricot, lou goimflo-gtiSy never. 

 What should we do, poor folk as we are, if the 

 Courconssoun robbed us of it ? " 



The fact is that the weevil despises the haricot ; a very 

 curious dislike if we consider how industriously the other 

 vegetables of the same family are attacked. All, even the 



