The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



began to wander about my bed, where I followed 

 them vaguely with my failing eyes.^ 



It is very true that, on leaving Orange, 

 Fabre still had " much to learn " from the 

 company of Hymenoptera and other insects 

 — the great period of his entomological ca- 

 reer had not yet begun — but the regret with 

 which he left Orange was soon dissipated 

 by the wealth of observations and the facili- 

 ties for study which his new home offered 

 him. 



Living in retirement at Orange, on the 

 confines of the town, at the gate of the fields, 

 he was as yet only in sight of the promised 

 land. At Serignan, in the quiet obscurity of 

 quite a little village, in the very midst of 

 " the great museum of the fields," he was 

 truly in possession of the country of his 

 dreams; he had found his ideal abiding-place, 

 the spot which was in most perfect conform- 

 ity with his tastes and most favourable to his 

 genius. 



'^Souvenirs, viii., pp. 144-160. The Bramble-Bees, 

 chap, xiv., " Parthenogenesis." It was only a later date, 

 by combining a series of successive observations which 

 were spread over a great length of years, that he was 

 able to define exactly the various modes of generation 

 eniployed by the Halicti, as described in the preceding 

 note. 



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