264 THE entomologist's kecord. 



black area. Report. — Mr. Edwards read his report, as delegate, to 

 the Contrress of the S.E. Union of Scientific Societies at Brighton. 



<D B I T U AR Y. 



Henri Jules Fabre, Hon. F.E.S. 



At the great age of 92 we have to record the death of M. Jules 

 Henri Fabre, the Reaumur of the nineteenth century. For the past 

 30 years he had lived and made his wonderful observations at the 

 little village of Serignan, in Provence. Like the mass of the French 

 peasants, he naturally possessed that patience and perseverance which 

 were so much called upon in the long sustained series of minute 

 observations carried on for so many years. 



The series of SoKvenirs Kntoiiwloi/iqiies, in ten volumes, published 

 from 1879 to 1907, form a great monument to his keenness of observa- 

 tion and his extraordinary perseverance. 



'* No investigator of natural phenomena has ever played so lonely 

 a hand as Fabre did. He was almost entirely unindebted to the 

 naturalists who had gone before him, partly because he had very little 

 opportunity of becoming acquainted with their work, partly because 

 he was little disposed to do so." " He thought that science was un- 

 scientific and laughable when it dealt with his entomology." These 

 words tersely express his aspect of mind. 



He must have seen how much he was handicapped in his own 

 studies by want of early opportunities and encouragement, for we find 

 him giving gratuitous lessons in nature-study in the town of Avignon, 

 where for 20 years he held a small professorship in the University. 

 Strange to say this action of his, added to his extremely retiring nature 

 and failure to take part in the ordinary social life of the town, whereby 

 he could advertise his ability, usually an inseparable item in the 

 " getting on " successfully, brought to a climax the persecution of 

 years and he was dismissed. He says himself, " La haute societe, je 

 "I'evite autant que possible, j'aime mieux la campagnie de moi-meme. 

 Aussi n'ai-je vu personne et ne me suis pas rendu a I'appel du principal 

 pour faire la tournee ofticielle." 



Although Darwin was a personal friend, Fabre held the doctrine of 

 evolution in contempt, and his ignorance of most of the theories of the 

 day and of the great mass of observations made by previous nature- 

 workers, often led him to make elaborate experiments to obtain facts, 

 which others had obtained in -a much simpler and more expeditious 

 way, and to come to absurd deductions from the limited facts upon 

 which they were based. 



It was not until late in his life that Fabre's work won for him any 

 public recognition. In 1894 he was made honorary member of the 

 Entomological Society of France; of that of London in 1904. He 

 was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour some years previous, 

 but it was only in 1912, when rumours of extreme poverty were uttered, 

 that "a government pension was bestowed on him. 



Not all Fabre's writings have been translated into English. We 

 have " Insect Life," translated by the author of "Mademosella Mori;" 

 " The Life and Love of the Insect," translated by Alexander Teixeira 

 de Mattos, who has also just completed another translation entitled 

 "Bramble-bees and others," and Bernard Miall has translated "Social 

 Life in the Insect World."— H.J. T. 



