The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



scape, and the wealth of the plains and hills 

 outspread before him. 



From this point of view the whole sur- 

 roundings of his hermitage seem as though 

 created to continue and complete the harmas, 

 and the scientific pleasures which this affords 

 him. 



The Gymnopleuri abourd in the pebbly plains of 

 the neighbourhood, where the sheep pass amid the 

 lavender and thyme; and, should we wish to vary 

 the scene of observation, the mountain ^ is but a few 

 hundred steps away, with its tangle of arbutus, 

 rock-roses, and arborescent heather; v^ith its sandy 

 spaces dear to the Bembeces; with its marly slopes 

 exploited by different Wasps and Bees. 



We have already made mention of the 

 Aygues, and the time has come to pay it a 

 formal visit, as one of the favourite haunts 

 of the Serignan hermit: 



The geographers define the Aygues as a water- 

 course. As an eye-w^itness I should call it rather 

 a stream of flat pebbles. Understand me: I do not 

 mean that the dry pebbles floM^ of their own accord ; 

 the feeble incline would not permit of such an 

 avalanche. But let it rain: then they will flow. 

 Then, from my home, which is more than a mile 

 distant, I hear the uproar of the clashing pebbles. 



1 Mont Ventoux, an outlying summit of the Alps, 6270 

 feet high. Cf. Insect Life, chap, xiii.— A. T. de M. 

 224 



