240 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC INSECTS cir. 



were altogether favourable to Pcyssonnel, and pub- 

 lished in the preface to the sixth and last volume 

 of his memoirs a clear and eloquent exposition of 

 the animal nature of Zoophytes. This was in 1742. 

 Peyssonnel never received due recognition of his 

 services to Natural History, and his views were 

 treated coldly until they were at length enforced with 

 greater knowledge by John Ellis, to whom fell the 

 rewards of the discovery. -i 



Reaumur spent much of his time at his country 

 residences, one in Saintonge, the other at Berc)' near 

 Paris. He avoided public offices, and his fortune 

 rendered him careless about increase of wealth. 

 When the Regent Orleans granted him a pension of 

 12,000 livres, he asked that it should be allotted to 

 the Academy of Sciences for technical experiments. 



Except for a quarrel with Buffon, which no longer 

 interests us, Reaumur's scientific career was happy 

 and tranquil. He was of kindly disposition, and a 

 favourite in all circles j 



Reaumur writes in a fluent and animated style. 

 He does not disdain personal incidents, illustrations 

 from every-day life, nor anything which may kindle 

 the reader's interest. Some have called him diffuse, 

 but his supposed diffuseness is only the leisurely man- 

 ner of a writer who addresses a wide circle of readers. 

 He is never in a hurry, never enters into dry and 

 technical discussions, never wastes his reader's time. 

 His speculations, even when antiquated, are worth 

 the attention of those who would enter into the 

 thoughts of a sagacious and most productive in- 

 vestigator, j 



I 



