Fabre's Writings 



anatomy; he who, with lens and scalpel, had 

 examined the whole entomological series, 

 leaving not a corner unexplored; he, finally, 

 who has nothing more to learn of the or- 

 ganisation of the insect, can think of nothing 

 better than an antiseptic fluid which gives at 

 least an appearance of an explanation of a 

 fact that leaves him confounded," and of 

 which he has not discovered the full miracle. 

 The author of this immortal discovery rightly 

 insists on " this comparison between the in- 

 sect's instinct and the scientist's reason, the 

 better to reveal in its true light the crushing 

 superiority of the insect." 



As though to give yet another verification 

 of the words so justly applied to entomology 

 — maxime miranda in minimis — the larva's 

 science is perhaps even more disconcerting 

 than that of the perfect insect. 



The Scolia's larva stupefies us by the order 

 in which it proceeds to devour its victim. 



" It proceeds from the less essential to 

 the more essential, in order to preserve a 

 remnant of life to the very last. In the first 

 place it absorbs the blood which issues from 

 the wound which it has made in the skin; 

 then it proceeds to the fatty matter en- 

 veloping the internal organs; then the mus- 

 cular layer lining the skin; and then, in the 



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