2 THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. 



in George Sand's romances, marching vigorously over 

 hills and valleys in search of a rare insect, which he 

 pricked with delight, or of a plant difficult to reach, 

 which he triumphantly dried and fixed on a leaf of 

 paper bearing the date of the discovery and the name 

 of the locality. A herbarium became a sort of 

 journal, recalling to its fortunate possessor all the 

 wanderings of the happy chase, all the delightful 

 sounds and sights of the country. Every naturalist 

 concealed within him a lover of idylls or eclogues. 

 Assuredly all the preliminary studies which resulted 

 from these excursions were necessary; we owe grati- 

 tude to our predecessors, and we profit from their 

 labours, sometimes regretting the loss of the pictur- 

 esque fashion in which their researches were carried 

 out. 



The naturalist of to-day usually lives more in the 

 laboratory than in the country. Occasional expedi- 

 tions to the coast or dredgings are the only links that 

 attach him to nature ; the scalpel and the microtome 

 have replaced the collector's pins, and the magnifying 

 glass gives place to the microscope. When the 

 observer begins to pursue his studies in the laboratory 

 he no longer cares to pass the threshold. He has 

 still so much to learn concerning the most common 

 creatures that it seems useless to him to waste his 

 time in seeking those that are rarer, unless he takes 

 into account the unquestionable pleasure of rambling 

 through woods or along coasts ; — but such a con- 

 sideration does not belong to the scientific domain. 



A change of conditions of this nature does not 

 suffice to create a science. To take away from a 

 study all that rendered it pleasant and easy, and to 

 make it the property of a small coterie, when it was 



