LIFE AND WORK OF FABRE — BOUVIEE. 593 



rather to profit by an absence that might permit the stealing of the 

 precious burden. 



It would take many pages to review the results of a work lasting 

 without respite for three-quarters of a century.* I have dwelt upon 

 certain problems solved by Fabre to bring into relief the range of 

 his researches. To indicate the extent and the unusual character of 

 this work I limit myself to certain of its many chapters, such as the 

 chapter on the Lampyrids or glowworms, where we are shown the 

 labor of these insects whose larvse are nourished on live snails ; the 

 study of the Necrophorus that carry on the unheard-of task of bury- 

 ing dead bodies in which they find their subsistence; and the chapters 

 devoted to diverse occupations of the weevils, the prickers of fruits, 

 the cutters of young sprouts, the cigarmakers or rollers of leaves. 

 Fabre revealed to us the cruel affections of the Mantids and the 

 fascination that these voracious carnivores practice on their victims ; 

 the egg laying of the crickets and the peculiar maneuvers employed 

 by their young to make their exit from the hole of the egg; the 

 covering made by the Phryganids and the Psychids ; the long evolu- 

 tion of the cicada in the ground ; and the mechanical Avanderings of 

 the marching caterpillars. Better than McCook, he has followed the 

 marvelous work of the orb-weaving spiders and likewise, with Mog- 

 gridge, the tricks of Mygale and the burrowing Lycosids. He has 

 given us an unparalleled description of the habits of the scorpions. 

 "What errors has he made to disappear! The resemblance of the 

 Volucella to the wasps or the bumblebees is now known not to be 

 attributed to a defensive mimicry, for these Diptera do not feed on 

 parasites in the nests of their hosts, but are their destroyers. The 

 simulation of death is a myth among the spiders as well as among 

 the insects. Although these creatures seem to be lifeless when 

 touched they do not adopt a defensive maneuver but present all the 

 characteristics of a cataleptic condition : this is a new chapter added 

 to the history of hypnosis. 



Fabre always showed a predilection for the Hymenoptera which 

 hunt and paralyze insects intended for food for their young; it is 

 through these that he leads into the field where he became famous, 

 and it is to them that he frequently refers in the following studies. 

 He has reviewed nearly all of them and each one revived the ecsta- 

 cies he had experienced in studying the Cerceris; the Philanthus, 

 hunters of bees; the Ammophila that store up caterpillars; the mud- 

 daubers and the Pompilids that attack spiders; the hunters of plant 

 lice, of grasshoppers, of Mantids, of crickets, of flies, of beetles; all 

 have successively been his favorites, all have brought him like as- 

 tonishment. This is perhaps the most captivating part of his wcrii ; it 

 is certainly the most extensive and the most original. Before his work 



