The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



their father's entomological desires. For 

 example, his son Emile sends him from the 

 neighbourhood of Marseilles a nest of resin- 

 working Hymenoptera/ His daughter Claire 

 sends him, from another part of Provence, 

 an entomological document of such value 

 that it " reawakened all the enthusiasm of his 

 early years.'* It related to one of his fa- 

 vourite insects, another Hymenopteron, the 

 Nest-building Odynerus. 



It was the end of February. The weather was 

 mild; the sun was kind. Setting out in a family 

 party, with food for the children, apples, and a 

 piece of a loaf in the basket, we were going to see 

 the almond-trees in flower. When it was time for 

 lunch we hahed under the great oak-trees, when 

 Anna, the youngest of the household, always on 

 the look-out for small creatures with her new, six- 

 year-old eyes, called to me, at a few paces' dis- 

 tance from our party. ** An animal," she said, 

 "two, three, four — and pretty ones! Come and 

 see, papa, come and see! " ^ 



This was one of the rarest discoveries: a 

 dozen specimens of the Pearly Trox, which 

 were making a meal off a little rabbit's down 

 which some fox's stomach had been unable 



^Souvenirs, IV., pp. 167-168, 182-183. ^^^ Mason 

 fVasps, chap, viii., " The Nest-building Odynerus," 



'^Ibid., VI., pp. 4, 118-119, 249, 383; VIII., p. 295; X., 

 pp. 15, 86, 112, etc. 



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