The Life of the Weevil 
be with a jaw-bone of the ‘Cave-bear,? 
whose mighty canine did duty as a plough- 
share! 
Where is this plant, the first source of the 
pea, in the world of spontaneous vegetation? 
Our regions possess nothing like it. Is it 
to be found elsewhere?’ On this point 
botany is silent, or replies only with vague 
probabilities. 
For that matter, the same ignorance 
prevails on the subject of most of our edible 
plants. Whence comes wheat, the blessed 
grain that gives us bread? No one knows. 
Except in the fields tilled by man, you need 
not look for it in this country. You need 
not look for it abroad either. In the East, 
where agriculture had its birth, no botanist 
ever came across the sacred ear increasing of 
its own accord on ground not broken by 
the plough. 
Barley, oats and rye, the turnip and the 
radish, the beet, the carrot, the pumpkin 
leave us in a like uncertainty: their origin 
is unknown, or at most suspected behind the 
8A very large, prehistoric Bear (Ursus spelaus) 
whose remains are common in European caves, including 
those of England.—Translator’s Note. 
230 
