The Life and Love of the Insect

THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT
PLATE I
THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT
BY J. HENRI FABRE TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS
LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1911
The author of these essays was born at Sérignan, in Provence, in the year 1823, and was long in coming to his own. His birthday, indeed, is now celebrated annually (Henri Fabre is still alive) at both Sérignan and Orange; but, as Maurice Maeterlinck, writing of this “Insect’s Homer … whose brow should be girt with a double and radiant crown,” says:
“Fame is often forgetful, negligent, behindhand or unjust; and the crowd is almost ignorant of the name of J. H. Fabre, who is one of the most profound and inventive scholars and also one of the purest writers and, I was going to add, one of the finest poets of the century that is just past.”
I should like to mention my personal sense of gratitude to a gentleman belonging to a class of workers whose services are not always recognized in the manner which they deserve. I speak of Mr. Marmaduke Langdale, my untiring, eager and accurate “searcher,” whose work at both branches of the British Museum—to say nothing of his uncommonly thorough acquaintance with the French language—has greatly assisted me in my task of translation and saved me, I suspect, from making more than one blunder.
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS.
The building of the nest, the safeguard of the family, furnishes the loftiest expression of the instinctive faculties. That ingenious architect, the bird, teaches us as much; and the insect, with its still more varied talents, repeats the lesson, telling us that maternity is the supreme inspirer of the instinct. Placed in charge of the duration of the species, which is of more serious interest than the preservation of individuals, maternity awakens a marvellous foresight in the drowsiest intelligence; it is the thrice sacred hearth wherein smoulder and then suddenly burst forth those incomprehensible psychic gleams which give us the impression of an infallible reasoning power. The more maternity asserts itself, the higher does instinct ascend.