CHAPTER XV 



THE HERMIT OF SERIGNAN (CONTINUED) 



WHILE the domain of the landowner 

 and manufacturer ended at the walls 

 of his field of pebbles and botanical garden, 

 that of the entomologist extended far be- 

 yond them, as far as his eyes could see and 

 his steps lead him. 



For this reason a panoramic view of the 

 surrounding country is desirable. 



With its peaceful plains, its gracious hills, 

 overgrown with strawberry-tree and ilex, and 

 the sublime mountain of Provence rising upon 

 the horizon, with its varied outlines and its 

 sun-illumined flanks, the Serignan landscape 

 gently forces itself upon the spectator's at- 

 tention. And if the spirit moved him, Fabre 

 had only to raise his head from his appa- 

 ratus to find all about him something to 

 soothe the eye and refresh the mind. 



But however keen his feeling for the beau- 

 ties of Nature, it is not so much as artist or 

 dilettante but as the insect historiographer 

 that he appreciates the value of the land- 



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