The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



hands had hung, on pegs driven into the wall, 

 one his blouse and another his hat. While 

 they were devoting their attention to the 

 soup, the guest had his eyes fixed upon the 

 Pelopaei which came prowling about the men's 

 clothes and found them so well adapted to 

 their needs that they began to build their 

 nests upon them. Unfortunately for the 

 builders and the spectator, the men soon rose 

 from the table and shook their belongings, 

 dislodging masses of mud already as large 

 as an acorn. Ah ! If he had been the owner 

 of those garments, how gladly he would have 

 allowed the Pelopaei to work their will, in 

 order to learn the fate of a nest built upon 

 the shifting surface of a smock-frock.^ 



The unavoidable limitations imposed by ob- 

 servations undertaken at home are not more 

 disappointing to the investigator than the 

 possible disturbance caused by passers-by 

 should he attempt to watch the insect on the 

 public highways. Here is an example. The 

 professor, on one of his *' days off,'* is qui- 



^ However, the audacious insect had other surprises in 

 store for him: his notes speak of nests found more or less 

 by chance near the still of a distillery, on the top of a 

 steam-engine in a silk mill, on the walls and furniture of 

 a farmhouse kitchen, and even in the interior of a gourd 

 in which the farmer kept his shot on the chimney-piece; 

 in a word, wherever there was warmth and not too 

 much light. Souvenirs, iv., p. 8-12. 



