A PERILOUS SITUATION. 105 



fourth year he retired to the country, and during 

 his stay there devoted himself entirely, and with 

 the utmost eagerness, to the study of insects. 



The friends of Latreille were desirous that he 

 should enter the Church ; his constitution was far 

 from robust, and it was hoped that the advantages 

 of a calm and peaceable profession would thus be 

 secured for him. As it proved, he was by this 

 very means rendered obnoxious to persecution and 

 suffering. As a member of the ecclesiastical body, 

 he was the object of suspicion to the revolutionary 

 party, and shared the fate of thousands of his 

 brethren. Among the multitudes condemned to 

 deportation, as it was called, he was included ; he 

 was immediately thrown into prison, and after- 

 wards conveyed to one of the general depots of the 

 city of Bordeaux, there to await the execution of 

 his sentence. 



An incident, trivial in itself, was the means of 

 saving him from the terrible fate of his fellow vic- 

 tims. The surgeon who visited tlfb jail in which 

 Latreille was confined one day observed him care- 

 fully examining a small beetle which had found its 

 way into his place of confinement. Upon inquiry, 

 he was informed by the prisoner that the insect 

 was a very rare one ; and he then expressed a wish 

 to have it for the purpose of presenting it to two 

 young naturalists of his acquaintance living at 



