TRANSLATOR'S NOTE 



This is the first of the four volumes con- 

 taining Fabre's essays on Beetles, the order 

 of insects to which, if we judge by his output, 

 he devoted the longest study. It will be 

 followed in due course by The Glow-worm 

 and Other Beetles, The Life of the Weevil 

 and More Beetles. These three, however, 

 will be issued, not in immediate succession, 

 but turn by turn with books upon other in- 

 sects; for the Souvenirs entomologiques, 

 from which all or nearly all this material is 

 taken, are still far from being exhausted. 



Of the eighteen chapters that make up the 

 present volume, some have appeared, either 

 complete or in a more or less abbreviated 

 form, in various interesting illustrated mis- 

 cellanies published independently of the Col- 

 lected Edition. Part of the Author's Pre- 

 face and the chapters entitled The Sacred 

 Beetle and The Sacred Beetle in Captivity 

 will be found in Insect Life, prepared for 

 Messrs. Macmillan & Co. by the author of 

 Mademoiselle Mori. Similarly, the next 



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