Fabre’s Souvenirs Entomologiques form ten volumes, containing two to three hundred essays in all. The present book is a translation of the greater part of a volume of selected essays, comprising, in addition to those here presented, three that appeared in a volume entitled Insect Life and published ten years ago by Messrs. Macmillan, in a version from the able pen of [[vi]]the author of Mademoiselle Mori. This volume contained also the first of the four articles descriptive of the habits of the Sacred Beetle; and the publishers desire me to express their thanks to Messrs. Macmillan for permission to include in The Life and Love of the Insect a variant of that first chapter from Insect Life. The omission of three essays included in the French volume of selections explains the absence of reference to certain insects represented in some of the photographic plates.
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.
Chelsea, 11 July, 1911. [[vii]]
CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||||||||
| TRANSLATOR’S NOTE | v | |||||||
| CHAPTER | ||||||||
| I. | [THE SACRED BEETLE] | 1 | ||||||
| II. | [THE SACRED BEETLE: THE PEAR] | 18 | ||||||
| III. | [THE SACRED BEETLE: THE MODELLING] | 32 | ||||||
| IV. | [THE SACRED BEETLE: THE GRUB, THE METAMORPHOSIS, THE HATCHING CHAMBER] | 42 | ||||||
| V. | [THE SPANISH COPRIS] | 63 | ||||||
| VI. | [THE ONTHOPHAGI] | 79 | ||||||
| VII. | [A BARREN PROMISE] | 88 | ||||||
| VIII. | [A DUNG BEETLE OF THE PAMPAS] | 99 | ||||||
| IX. | [THE GEOTRUPES: THE PUBLIC HEALTH] | 113 | ||||||
| X. | [THE MINOTAURUS TYPHŒUS] | 127 | ||||||
| XI. | [THE TWO BANDED SCOLIA] | 143 | ||||||
| XII. | [THE RINGED CALICURGUS] | 157 | ||||||
| XIII. | [THE OLD WEEVILS] | 171 | ||||||
| XIV. | [LEAF ROLLERS] | 184 | ||||||
| XV. | [THE HALICTI] | 199 | ||||||
| XVI. | [THE HALICTI: THE PORTRESS] | 210 | ||||||
| XVII. | [THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION] | 223 | ||||||
| XVIII. | [THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION: THE FAMILY] | 243 | ||||||
[[ix]]