NEW GLEANINGS IN OLD FIELDS 



cules of matter, when we have once conceived of 

 them, are as easy of apprehension as are the rocks 

 and the mountains. The theory of their nature and 

 activities figures as large in our minds as that of the 

 planetary systems. The stories of many of Fabre*s 

 flies and beetles interest us as much, and are quite 

 as significant, as the story of Jack the Giant-Killer 

 or of Robinson Crusoe. His history of the tumble- 

 bug amuses and interests us as much as that of any 

 of Plutarch's heroes. But see the tumblebug there 

 in the path or by the roadside, struggling with his 

 little black globe, and he is little more than the 

 microscopic spider on my sheet of paper. His his- 

 tory must be written large, magnified by printer's 

 type, before it comes fully within our ken or has 

 power to move us. 



Fabre's excursions afield are as entertaining and 

 suggestive as Roosevelt's excursions into the big- 

 game lands of Africa. With the true artist size does 

 not count. The same is true of all the minutiae of 

 nature — flowers, insects, birds, fishes, frogs. We 

 are bound to magnify them by describing them in 

 the terms of our experience with larger bodies. 



A wasp will capture its prey, paralyze it, and leave 

 it upon the ground and then go a few yards away 

 and dig its hole. Then it will come back, look its 

 game over, take its measure, and apparently con- 

 clude that the hole is too small, then go back and 

 enlarge it, sometimes making several trips of this 



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