The Life of Jean Henri Fabre 



but God preserve me from ever doing so 

 upon those who maintain them." ^ 



In his constant skirmishes against the 

 theory of evolution, even in the set battles 

 which he occasionally fights, whenever he 

 writes Charles Darwin's name he mentions 

 it with evident accents of respect and sym- 

 pathy, gladly referring to him as '^ the mas- 

 ter," " the illustrious master," *' the vener- 

 ated master." 



On his part the English scientist does full 

 justice to the French scientist's incomparable 

 mastery in the study of insects. We have 

 often mentioned the title of " inimitable ob- 

 server " which he gives him in his work on 

 the Origin of Species, In a letter dated the 

 i6th of April 1881, he wrote to Mr. Ro- 

 manes, who was preparing a book on Animal 

 Intelligence: " I do not know whether you 



1 Souvenirs, il., p. 160. He makes this declaration in 

 respect of an error which he had incorrectly attributed 

 to Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of the famous 

 Charles Darwin, on the faith of an unfaithful transla- 

 tion due to the entomologist Lacordaire. The mistake, 

 which is really Lacordaire's, not Erasmus Darwin's, con- 

 sisted in confusing the Sphex with a common Wasp. 

 Charles Darwin, having informed Fabre that his grand- 

 father had said " a wasp," the French naturalist imme- 

 diately inserted this correction in a note, in the second 

 volume of the Souvenirs, which I had not yet come across 

 when I cited the passage in question. I can therefore 

 say with M. Fabre: "May this note amend, within the 

 proper limits, the assertions which I made in all good 

 faith." 



286 



