The Life of the Weevil 



taur 1 has edified us by his domestic habits. 

 Long live the modest! Long live the 

 little ! 



One of these little ones, smaller than a 

 peppercorn, will set us a great problem, full 

 of interest but probably insoluble. The offi- 

 cial nomenclators call it Clonus thapsus, FAB. 

 If you ask me what Clonus means, I shall 

 reply frankly that I have not the least idea. 

 Neither the writer of these lines nor the 

 reader is any the worse off for that. In en- 

 tomology a name is all the better for mean- 

 ing nothing but the insect named. 



If an amalgam of Greek or Latin has a 

 meaning that alludes to the insect's manner 

 of living, the reality is often inconsistent with 

 the word, because the nomenclator, work- 

 ing in a necropolis, has preceded the obser- 

 ver, who is concerned with the living species. 

 Moreover, rough guesses and even glaring 

 mistakes too often disfigure the records of 

 the insect world. 



At the present moment, it is the word thap- 

 sus that deserves reproach, for the plant ex- 



1 The essays on Minotaurus Typhceus will appear in 

 the next volume of the series, to be entitled More Beetles. 

 Translator's Note. 



308 



