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rounded by their own progeny. These in turn, in a 

 little while, have offspring of their own; and so on, 

 indefinitely, as long as the season lasts. Thus the 

 stem, the branch, the entire plant, become covered 

 with lice so closely packed one against another that 

 in places the real bark is hidden by this bark of 

 vermin. 



"Have you ever seen a garden-patch of broad 

 beans overrun by black lice? There, better than 

 anywhere else, may be seen the rapidity of propaga- 

 tion. On that green expanse appears at first a small 

 black stain, announcing the beginning of the inva- 

 sion. It is a family of lice installed at the top of a 

 beanstalk, the tenderest part of the plant, where 

 the insects' suckers can work to best advantage. 

 The gardener, as soon as he is aware of what is going 

 on, hastens to cut off this part of the stalk and crush 

 it under his heel. He hopes to exorcise the evil by 

 destroying this nest of vermin. 



"His hope is short-lived. A few days later, in- 

 stead of one plant invaded there are dozens. He 

 lops off again ; he turns up the remaining leaves and 

 examines them one by one ; he crushes what vermin 

 he finds, taking all pains to make the extermination 

 complete. Will he make an end of it this time? Not 

 at all : the black hordes reappear in greater numbers 

 than ever; the invaded stalks can no longer be 

 counted. A few lice that escaped the slaughter were 

 enough to infest the whole patch of beans. The 

 foliage hangs down, foul and withered; the young 

 pods, riddled with punctures and corrugated with 



