CHAPTER XVII 



THE COLLABORATORS 



" A/T FABRE ' S life-story is one of the fin- 

 1V1. est that could be related," said M. 

 Laffite lately, in a leading article in La 

 Nature. " It is simple. It is the humble and 

 tragic story of a persistent struggle between 

 two irreducible adversaries, on the one hand 

 the most precarious conditions of the strug- 

 gle for life, and on the other the power of 

 a vocation, as though riveted to his being, 

 which urged him despite everything to ob- 

 servation, study, and an understanding of the 

 world of living creatures, and in particular 

 of the insects." 1 



Such, indeed, is one of the most striking 

 aspects of the great naturalist's life, and that 

 under which it appears more especially in its 

 early stages. But there is another aspect, 

 perhaps even more remarkable, under which 

 it was to reveal itself more particularly in 

 later years. Considering the first of these 



1 26th March 1910, 



253 



