Author's Preface 



which were recommended to me by the pro- 

 fessor of Science. My worthy colleague re- 

 garded the author of the Souvenirs Ento- 

 mologiques with a sort of worship, and it 

 was with positive delight that he used to 

 read aloud to me the finest passages of those 

 masterly " Essays upon the Instincts and 

 Habits of Insects.'* 



A little later 1 chanced, in the course of 

 my reading, on the Revue Scientifique de 

 BruxelleSj which contained abundant extracts 

 from the sixth volume of the Souvenirs^ in 

 which the author becomes confidential, and 

 tells us. In the most delightful fashion, of 

 his earliest childhood in the home of his 

 grandparents " who tilled a poor holding on 

 the cold granite backbone of the Rouergue 

 tableland." Hullo! I said to myself: so the 

 prince of entomologists is a child of the 

 Rouergue! What a discovery! 



For a long time I thought of publishing, 

 in the local press, a short biography of Fabre 

 with a few extracts from his writings. I was 

 only waiting an opportunity and a little 

 leisure. 



This leisure I had not yet found, when 

 the opportunity offered itself in a decisive 

 and urgent fashion, In the scientific jubilee of 

 the great naturalist, which was celebrated 



