MEMOIR OF LATREILLE. 39 



and its consolations in like manner became to him 

 the avenue to safety. 



" The medical attendant on the Bordeaux prisons 

 was one day surprised to see a prisoner absorbed in 

 the contemplation of an insect at a time when his 

 life was in danger. ' It is a very rare insect,' M. 

 Latreille replied to the questions he put to him ; 

 the insect was asked for and obtained for a na- 

 turalist of Bordeaux, then a young man of high 

 promise, and now our fellow-member, M. Bory de 

 Saint-Vincent. The latter, flattered by obtaining 

 this gift from an entomologist whose name was al- 

 ready known by honourable works, undertook the 

 task of liberating M. Latreille from the danger 

 which threatened him, and soon had the happiness 

 to see his exertions and those of their common 

 friend, Dargelas, crowned with the most complete 

 success. Latreille was restored to liberty and to 

 Science. One trembles to think that, a month later, 

 he might have perished with the companions of his 

 misfortune, swallowed up by the waters of the 

 Gironde. The deliverance was truly miraculous, 

 if we refer to its cau>e, the accidental discovery of 

 an insect ; and our illustrious co-member has taken 

 care to commemorate the circumstances in the most 

 important of his works, the Genera Crustaceorum 

 et Insectorum. 



" A life so long exposed to agitation, at last ob- 

 tained the means of settling, peaceably and happily, 

 to literary labours. I shall limit myself on this 

 occasion to mention their extent and high import- 

 ance ; what can I communicate to my present audi- 



