86 16 la bohème des gens de loi: 'the legal Bohemia.' Gypsies were supposed to have come from Bohemia; consequently any persons who lead an irregular life are called Bohemians. Thus, for example, the Latin Quarter of Paris, inhabited largely by artists and students, is called the "Bohemian Quarter."
86 18 sauterelles: cf. note to 24 23.
86 19 papier timbré: 'stamped paper.' A government revenue stamp, either printed on the paper (papier timbré) or affixed, must accompany French legal and commercial documents. Timbre-poste, masculine, = 'postage stamp.'
86 20 tiges de ses bottes: the locusts, sauterelles (1 18), eat a Plant jusqu'à la tige; Daudet is punning here on the two meanings of tige, 'stalk' of a plant, 'leg' of a boot.--déchiqueté ... maïs: 'stripped like a stalk of corn,' of whose foliage the locusts leave nothing but midribs and hanging fibers.
86 27 silo: a pit for storing grain. Since Goffart's work on the ensilage of green crops, published in 1877, the word has become familiar in America, our silo for green crops being usually above ground. As a punishment in the French army in Algeria, men (sometimes more of them than could lie down on the bottom of the pit) were put into a pit and kept there while filth accumulated around them.
87 2 sans (compter) les frais: 'plus the costs.'
87 3 piastres: 'dollars,' the Spanish coin also called douro (note to 48 21); Frenchmen in America sometimes call the American dollar a piastre, piastre also means the Turkish piaster (4.4 American cents).