Fabre's Writings 



It is not the function of impartial history to main- 

 tain a given thesis; it follows where the facts lead 

 it.i 



The historian of the insects simply con- 

 fronts the facts of the entomological world 

 which he has explored under all its aspects: 



To speak with certainty, we must not depart 

 from what we really know. I am beginning to 

 know the insect passably well after forty years of 

 intercourse with it. Let us question the insect: not 

 the first comer, but the best endowed, the Hymen- 

 opteron. I am generous to my opponents. Where 

 will you find a creature richer in talents? . . . 

 Well, does this refined and privileged member of 

 the animal kingdom reason? 



And, first of all, what is reason ? Philosophy will 

 give us learned definitions. Let us be modest; let 

 us stick to the simplest; we are only dealing with 

 animals. Reason is the faculty which refers the 

 effect to the cause, the means to the end, and di- 

 rects the action by making it conform to the re- 

 quirements of the accidental. Within these limits 

 is the animal able to reason? Does it understand 

 how to associate a because with a why, and behave 

 in accordance? Can it, confronted with an acci- 

 dent, alter its line of conduct ? ^ 



'^Souvenirs, v., pp. 141, 142, 150. The Sacred Beetle 

 and others, chap, xvi., " The Lunary Copris." The 

 Glonv-JVorm and Other Beetles, chap, xi., " The Bury- 

 ing Beetles." 



^Souvenirs, 11., p. 159. The Mason-Bees, chap. vii. 



345 



