CHAPTER I 



THE SERIGNAN JUBILEE 



TN a few days' time ^ naturalists, poets, and 

 -■■ philosophers will repair in company to 

 Serlgnan, in the neighbourhood of Orange. 

 What is calling them from every point of the 

 intellectual horizon, from the most distant 

 cities and capitals, to a little Provencal vil- 

 lage? Moussu Fabre, they would tell you 

 yonder, in a tone of respectful sympathy. 



But who is the Moussu Fabre thus cher- 

 ished by the simplest as well as by the most 

 cultivated minds? He is a sturdy old man 

 of all but ninety years, who has spent almost 

 the whole of his life in the company of 

 Wasps, Bees, Gnats, Beetles, Spiders, and 

 Ants, and has described the doings of these 

 tiny creatures in a most wonderful fashion 

 in ten large volumes entitled Souvenirs En- 

 tomologiques or Etudes sur I'Instinct et les 

 Mceurs des Insectes.^ 



1 The great entomologist's jubilee was celebrated on 

 the April 3, 1910. — Author's Note. 



2 Paris, Delagrave. The Sou<venirs, translated by- 

 Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, are in course of publica- 



I 



