The Bear: Larinus 
cabin and go to take part in the festival 
of spring. 
In majesty of bearing and magnificence 
of blossom our kitchen-gardens have nothing 
superior to the cardoon and its near relative 
the artichoke. Their heads grow to double 
the size of a man’s fist. Outside are spiral 
series of imbricated scales which, without 
being aggressive, diverge at maturity in the 
shape of broad, stiff, pointed blades. 
Beneath this armament is a fleshy, hemi- 
sperical swelling, as big as half an orange. 
From this rises a serried mass of long 
white hairs, a sort of fur, than which a Polar 
Bear’s is no thicker. Closely surrounded by 
- this hair, the seeds are crowned with feathers 
which double the thickness of the shaggy 
chevaux de frise. Above this, delighting the 
eye, blooms the spreading tuft of flowers, 
coloured a splendid lapis lazuli, like that of 
the cornflower, the joy of the harvest. 
This is the chief domain of a third Larinus 
(L. scolymi, OLiv.), a big Weevil, thickset, 
broad-backed, powdered with yellow ochre. 
The cardoon, which provides our table with 
the fleshy veins of its leaves, but whose heads 
are disdained, is the insect’s customary home; 
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