A Great Preparation 



found more than one echo, and had an after- 

 math throughout the country. We will not 

 insist further upon the eager, enthusiastic 

 interest extended by the public to the new 

 edition of the Souvenirs, and the publication 

 of La Vie des Insectes and Les Maeurs des 

 Insectes, which are volumes of selected ex- 

 tracts from the Souvenirs, nor even on the 

 decoration of the Legion of Honour which 

 so justly raised to the rank of officer him who 

 had been a simple chevalier for forty years. 



But we must refer at somewhat greater 

 length to the three proofs of admiration 

 which must have found their way most surely 

 to his heart. 



The first, to which we have already 

 alluded, came from the highest literary au- 

 thority of France, and, we might say, of the 

 world. In his report on the literary prizes 

 awarded by the Academic Franchise, M. 

 Thureau-Dangui devoted the following pas- 

 sage to our friend: 



I have reserved to the last the largest of our 

 direct prizes, the Nee prize, awarded to the author 

 of the Souvenirs entomologiques, M. Jean-Henri 

 Fabre. He cannot, at all events, be accused of in- 

 discreet solicitation. In his hermitage at Serignan, 

 where he has pursued a long life of toil, a life so 

 modest that despite the most wonderful discov- 

 363 



