Permutations of Sex 



hatching, those which hatch and produce 

 males are therefore fertilized; and the Ger- 

 man theory falls to the ground. 



Then what explanation shall I give of the 

 wonderful facts which I have set forth? 

 Why, none, absolutely none. I do not ex- 

 plain facts, I relate them. Growing daily 

 more sceptical of the interpretations sug- 

 gested to me and more hesitating as to those 

 which I may have to suggest myself, the more 

 I observe and experiment, the more clearly I 

 see rising out of the black mists of possibility 

 an enormous note of interrogation. 



Dear insects, my study of you has sustained 

 me and continues to sustain me in my heaviest 

 trials. I must take leave of you for to-day. 

 7he ranks are thinning around me and the 

 long hopes have fled. Shall I be able to 

 speak of you again ?^ 



'This is the closing paragraph of vol. iii. of the Sou- 

 venirs entomolog'tques, of which the author has lived to 

 publish seven more volumes, containing over 2,500 pages 

 and nearly 850,000 words. — Translator's Note. 



191 



