Author's Preface 



boarded palaces and are extremely reluctant 

 to surrender their secrets. It is only once 

 in a way that they fall victims to my 

 assiduous wooing. Besides, if my mena- 

 gerie is to be run properly, I must know some- 

 thing of what is happening outside, were it 

 only to find out the right time of year for 

 my various projects. It is absolutely essen- 

 tial therefore that our study of the insect 

 in captivity should be amply supplemented 

 by observations of its life and habits in the 

 wild state. 



Here an assistant would be very useful 

 to me, some one with leisure, with a seeing 

 eye and a simple heart, whose curiosity would 

 be as unaffected as my own. This helper I 

 have : such an one indeed as I have never 

 had before or since. He is a young shep- 

 herd, a friend of the family. He has read 

 a little and has a keen desire for know- 

 ledge, so he is not frightened by the terms 

 Scarabaeus, Geotrupes, Copris or Ontho- 

 phagus when I name the insects which he 

 has dug up the day before and kept for me 

 in a box. 



At early dawn in the dog-days, when my 

 Insects are busy with their nest-building, you 

 may see him in the meadows. When night 

 falls and the heat begins to lessen, he Is still 



