vi INSECT LIFE 



very different from insect life as it is usually sup- 

 posed to be by the uninstructed, and as it is only 

 too frequently represented to be in books. In the 

 volume now offered to the reader he is almost 

 entirely concerned with the instinct of Hymenoptera, 

 the highest of the insect world in this respect. His 

 studies of this subject have been continued in several 

 other volumes, and he has also included in the series 

 the results of many years of observation of the 

 habits of other and very different insects. 



His philosophical position may be briefly stated 

 to be a determined refusal to recognise evolution as 

 a legitimate idea. In this we may think him wrong; 

 but it must be admitted that his views form a 

 valuable antithesis to those of the many evolutionists 

 who take the position that all that remains for the 

 naturalist to do is to repeat the words Natural 

 Selection and variation, and declare that thereby 

 we understand the Cosmos. 



Fabre is a difficult writer to translate. Probably 

 no -one has ever written on this subject with equal 

 brilliancy and vivacity. But he is the most Gallic 

 of Frenchmen. If his words are literally translated, 

 they scarcely make English ; if freely translated, the 

 charm of his diction is too easily missed. 



We hope that this volume may induce the 

 student to read Fabre's subsequent volumes.^ Taken 



^ Souvenirs Entomologiques (Ch. Delagrave, 15 Rue SouflBot, Paris), 

 of which there are now seven series, this volume being a translation of 

 the first. 



