The Vine-Weevil 



the whole list of insect names in our Pro- 

 vengal idiom, expressive and fertile though 

 this idiom be when it refers to the vegetable 

 world and even, at times, to a sorry weed 

 which one would think was known to the 

 botanist only. 



The man of the soil is interested above all 

 things in the plant, the great foster-mother; 

 all else leaves him indifferent. Splendid 

 adornment, curious habits, marvels of in- 

 stinct : all these make no appeal to him. But 

 to touch his vine, to eat other people's grass : 

 what a heinous crime! Quick, a name, a 

 badge of infamy, to hang round the male- 

 factor's neck ! 



This time the Provencal peasant has taken 

 the trouble to invent a special term: he 

 calls the cigar-roller the Becaru. Here the 

 scientific name and the rural name are in 

 complete agreement. Rhynchites and Becaru 

 are exact equivalents: both allude to the 

 insect's long beak. 



But how much more correct is the vine- 

 grower's term, in its lucid simplicity, than 

 the scientific name, set forth in full, with its 

 imperative complement relating to the 

 species! I rack my brain in vain to guess 

 159 



