Fabre's Writings 



Yet he is far from wishing to '* belittle the 

 merits " or " diminish the reputation " of his 

 beloved insects. No one can be less suspected 

 of prejudice against them, since none has 

 *' glorified " them more abundantly; no one 

 has spoken of them with greater admiration 

 and sympathy; no one has more fully de- 

 scribed their high achievements, and no one 

 has revealed such unknown and incredible 

 marvels on their behalf. It is enough to re- 

 call the " miracles " of the science and wis- 

 dom of the paralysers. 



But far from invalidating the conclusion 

 drawn from the obvious stupidity of the in- 

 sect even in the actions which are its specialty, 

 the science and wisdom of instinct afford it 

 a striking confirmation. The very " slightest 

 glimmer of intelligence '^ would suffice to 

 make the insect do what it does not and leave 

 undone what it does even within the circum- 

 ference of its attributions. If it is plainly 

 devoid of this glimmer, how much more 

 plainly is it devoid of that ** splendour of in- 

 telligence '' which the *' miracles " of instinct 

 would require I ^ To sum up, the insect sins 

 too greatly by excess and by defect in its in- 

 stinctive actions to justify our attributing to 

 it an understanding of these actions; we are 



^Souvenirs, li., p. 138; vi., pp. 98, 117. 



347 



