Author's Preface 



which were recommended to me by the pro- 

 fessor of Science. My worthy colleague re- 

 garded the author of the Souvenirs Ento- 

 mologiques with a sort of worship, and it 

 was with positive delight that he used to 

 read aloud to me the finest passages of those 

 masterly " Essays upon the Instincts and 

 Habits of Insects." 



A little later 1 chanced, in the course of 

 my reading, on the Revue Scientifique de 

 Bruxelles, which contained abundant extracts 

 from the sixth volume of the Souvenirs, in 

 which the author becomes confidential, and 

 tells us, in the most delightful fashion, of 

 his earliest childhood in the home of his 

 grandparents " who tilled a poor holding on 

 the cold granite backbone of the Rouergue 

 tableland." Hullo! I said to myself: so the 

 prince of entomologists is a child of the 

 Rouergue! What a discovery! 



For a long time I thought of publishing, 

 in the local press, a short biography of Fabre 

 with a few extracts from his writings. I was 

 only waiting an opportunity and a little 

 leisure. 



This leisure I had not yet found, when 

 the opportunity offered itself in a decisive 

 and urgent fashion, in the scientific jubilee of 

 the great naturalist, which was celebrated 



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