The Haricot-Weevil 
searching through a fine sixteenth-century 
work on natural history, Hernandez’ De 
Historia plantarum novi orbis. The word 
haricot was unknown in France until the 
seventeenth century: we used to say feve or 
phaséol; in Mexican, ayacot. Thirty vari- 
eties of haricot were cultivated in Mexico 
before the conquest. They are called ayacot 
to this day, especially the red haricot, with 
black or violet spots. One day, at Gaston 
Paris’ house, I met a great scholar. On 
hearing my name, he rushed at me and 
asked if it was I who had discovered 
the etymology of the word haricot. He 
was absolutely ignorant of the fact that 
I had written poems and published Les 
Trophées....’” 
What a glorious jest, to place the jewellery 
of his sonnets under the protection of a 
bean! I in my turn am delighted with the 
ayacot. How right I was to suspect that 
strange word haricot of being an American- 
Indian idiom! How truthful the insect was 
when it declared, in its own fashion, that the 
precious seed reached us from the New 
World! While retaining its first name, or 
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