Fabre's Book of Insects

FABRE’S
                                BOOK OF INSECTS

                   RETOLD FROM ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS’
               TRANSLATION of FABRE’S “SOUVENIRS ENTOMOLOGIQUES”
                            BY MRS. RODOLPH STAWELL


                                 Illustrated by
                                 E. J. DETMOLD


                                    NEW YORK
                             DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
                                      1921








CONTENTS


    CHAPTER I                               PAGE
    MY WORK AND MY WORKSHOP                    1

    CHAPTER II
    THE SACRED BEETLE                         11

    CHAPTER III
    THE CICADA                                25

    CHAPTER IV
    THE PRAYING MANTIS                        40

    CHAPTER V
    THE GLOW-WORM                             54

    CHAPTER VI
    A MASON-WASP                              69

    CHAPTER VII
    THE PSYCHES                               89

    CHAPTER VIII
    THE SELF-DENIAL OF THE SPANISH COPRIS    109

    CHAPTER IX
    TWO STRANGE GRASSHOPPERS                 121

    CHAPTER X
    COMMON WASPS                             138

    CHAPTER XI
    THE ADVENTURES OF A GRUB                 157

    CHAPTER XII
    THE CRICKET                              175

    CHAPTER XIII
    THE SISYPHUS                             198

    CHAPTER XIV
    THE CAPRICORN                            209

    CHAPTER XV
    LOCUSTS                                  227

    CHAPTER XVI
    THE ANTHRAX FLY                          249








LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


THE SACRED BEETLE                                          Frontispiece

    Sometimes the Scarab seems to enter into partnership with
    a friend

THE CICADA                                                  FACING PAGE

    In July, when most of the insects in my sunny country are
    parched with thirst, the Cicada remains perfectly cheerful       26

THE PRAYING MANTIS

    A long time ago, in the days of ancient Greece, this insect
    was named Mantis, or the Prophet                                 42

PELOPÆUS SPIRIFEX

    When finished the work is amber-yellow, and rather reminds
    one of the outer skin of an onion                                80

THE PSYCHES

    This is the secret of the walking bundle of sticks. It is a
    Faggot Caterpillar, belonging to the group known as the Psyches  90

THE SPANISH COPRIS

    The burrow is almost filled by three or four ovoid nests,
    standing one against the other, with the pointed end upwards    116

THE WHITE-FACED DECTICUS

    The Greek word dectikos means biting, fond of biting. The
    Decticus is well named. It is eminently an insect given
    to biting                                                       130

COMMON WASPS

    The wasp’s nest is made of a thin, flexible material like
    brown paper, formed of particles of wood                        144

THE FIELD CRICKET

    Here is one of the humblest of creatures able to lodge himself
    to perfection. He has a home; he has a peaceful retreat, the
    first condition of comfort                                      180

THE SISYPHUS

    The mother harnesses herself in the place of honour, in front.
    The father pushes behind in the reverse position, head
    downwards                                                       204

ITALIAN LOCUSTS

    “I have buried underground,” she says, “the treasure of
    the future”                                                     238

THE ANTHRAX FLY

    Her delicate suit of downy velvet, from which you take the
    bloom by merely breathing on it, could not withstand the
    contact of rough tunnels                                        258








FABRE’S BOOK OF INSECTS


CHAPTER I

MY WORK AND MY WORKSHOP


We all have our own talents, our special gifts. Sometimes these gifts
seem to come to us from our forefathers, but more often it is difficult
to trace their origin.

A goatherd, perhaps, amuses himself by counting little pebbles and
doing sums with them. He becomes an astoundingly quick reckoner, and in
the end is a professor of mathematics. Another boy, at an age when most
of us care only for play, leaves his schoolfellows at their games and
listens to the imaginary sounds of an organ, a secret concert heard by
him alone. He has a genius for music. A third—so small, perhaps, that
he cannot eat his bread and jam without smearing his face—takes a keen
delight in fashioning clay into little figures that are amazingly
lifelike. If he be fortunate he will some day be a famous sculptor.

To talk about oneself is hateful, I know, but perhaps I may be allowed
to do so for a moment, in order to introduce myself and my studies.

From my earliest childhood I have felt drawn towards the things of
Nature.