288 SOCIAL LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 



the constellation of Bootes disappears at the set of sun, 

 that is, in October ; and it is to be continued until the 

 middle of the winter. 



These conditions put the haricot out of the running : 

 it is a delicate plant, which would never survive the 

 hghtest frost. Winter would be fatal to it, even under 

 Italian skies. More refractory to cold on account of 

 the country of their origin, peas, broad beans, and 

 vetches, and other leguminous plants have nothing to 

 fear from an autumn sowing, and prosper during the 

 winter provided the climate be fairly mild. 



What then is represented by the faselus of the 

 Georgics, that problematical vegetable which has trans- 

 mitted its name to the haricot in the Latin tongues ? 

 Remembering that the contemptuous epithet vilis is used 

 by the poet in qualification, I am strongly inclined to 

 regard it as the cultivated vetch, the big square pea, the 

 Httle-valued jaisso of the Provencal peasant. 



The problem of the haricot stood thus, almost eluci- 

 dated by the testimony of the insect world alone, when 

 an unexpected witness gave me the last word of the 

 enigma. It was once again a poet, and a famous poet, 

 M. Jose-Maria de Heredia, who came to the aid of the 

 naturalist. Without suspecting the service he was 

 rendering, a friend of mine, the village schoolmaster, 

 lent me a magazine ^ in which I read the following 

 conversation between the master-sonneteer and a lady 

 journalist, who was anxious to know which of his own 

 works he preferred. 



" What would you have me say ? " said the poet. 



*The Christmas number {Noel) of the Annates polihqucs et 

 imiraires : Les En/ants juges par leurs peres, 1901. 



