Chapter I: Front Matter

THE
LIFE AND LOVE
OF THE INSECT

BY
J. HENRI FABRE

TRANSLATED BY
ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS

LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1911

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

The author of these essays was born at Sérignan, in Provence, in the year 1823, and was long in coming to his own. His birthday, indeed, is now celebrated annually (Henri Fabre is still alive) at both Sérignan and Orange; but, as Maurice Maeterlinck, writing of this “Insect’s Homer ... whose brow should be girt with a double and radiant crown,” says:

“Fame is often forgetful, negligent, behindhand or unjust; and the
crowd is almost ignorant of the name of J. H. Fabre, who is one of
the most profound and inventive scholars and also one of the purest
writers and, I was going to add, one of the finest poets of the
century that is just past.”

Fabre’s Souvenirs Entomologiques form ten volumes, containing two to three hundred essays in all. The present book is a translation of the greater part of a volume of selected essays, comprising, in addition to those here presented, three that appeared in a volume entitled Insect Life and published ten years ago by Messrs. Macmillan, in a version from the able pen of the author of Mademoiselle Mori. This volume contained also the first of the four articles descriptive of the habits of the Sacred Beetle; and the publishers desire me to express their thanks to Messrs. Macmillan for permission to include in The Life and Love of the Insect a variant of that first chapter from Insect Life. The omission of three essays included in the French volume of selections explains the absence of reference to certain insects represented in some of the photographic plates.

I should like to mention my personal sense of gratitude to a gentleman belonging to a class of workers whose services are not always recognized in the manner which they deserve. I speak of Mr. Marmaduke Langdale, my untiring, eager and accurate “searcher,” whose work at both branches of the British Museum—to say nothing of his uncommonly thorough acquaintance with the French language—has greatly assisted me in my task of translation and saved me, I suspect, from making more than one blunder.

ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS.

Chelsea, 11 July, 1911.

CONTENTS

PAGE

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE v

CHAPTER
I. THE SACRED BEETLE 1
II. THE SACRED BEETLE: THE PEAR 18
III. THE SACRED BEETLE: THE MODELLING 32
IV. THE SACRED BEETLE: THE GRUB, THE METAMORPHOSIS,
THE HATCHING CHAMBER 42
V. THE SPANISH COPRIS 63
VI. THE ONTHOPHAGI 79
VII. A BARREN PROMISE 88
VIII. A DUNG BEETLE OF THE PAMPAS 99
IX. THE GEOTRUPES: THE PUBLIC HEALTH 113
X. THE MINOTAURUS TYPHŒUS 127
XI. THE TWO BANDED SCOLIA 143
XII. THE RINGED CALICURGUS 157
XIII. THE OLD WEEVILS 171
XIV. LEAF ROLLERS 184
XV. THE HALICTI 199
XVI. THE HALICTI: THE PORTRESS 210
XVII. THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION 223
XVIII. THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION: THE FAMILY 243

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
PLATE I.—1. The Sacred Beetle. 2. The Sacred Beetle rolling
his pill. 3. Rolling the pill to the eating burrow Frontispiece
PLATE II.—Burrow and pear-shaped ball of the Sacred Beetle facing 20
Fig. 1.—Section of the Sacred Beetle’s pill, showing the egg
and the hatching-chamber 24
PLATE III.—1. The Sacred Beetle pushing away and overturning a
thieving friend who tries to force his assistance upon him.
2. Crypt in which the Beetle shapes a grub’s provision into
a pear facing 36
Fig. 2.—The Sacred Beetle’s pill dug out cupwise to receive
the egg 39
Fig. 3.—Grub of the Sacred Beetle 46
Fig. 4.—Digestive apparatus of the Sacred Beetle 47
PLATE IV.—1 and 2. The Spanish Copris, male and female. 3. The
pair jointly kneading the big load, which, divided into egg-
shaped pills, will furnish provisions for each grub of the
brood. 4. The mother alone in her burrow: five pills are already
finished; a sixth is in process of construction facing 72
Fig. 5.—The Copris’s pill: first state 72
Fig. 6.—The Spanish Copris’s pill dug out cupwise to receive
the egg 73
Fig. 7.—The Spanish Copris’s pill: section showing the hatching-
chamber and the egg 73
Fig. 8.—Phanæus Milo 102
Fig. 9.—Work of Phanæus Milo. A, the whole piece, actual size.
B, the same opened, showing the pill of sausage-meat, the clay
gourd, the chamber containing the egg and the ventilating-shaft 104
Fig. 10.—Work of Phanæus Milo: the largest of the gourds observed
(natural size) 108
PLATE V.—1. Onthophagus Taurus. 2. Onthophagus Vacca. 3. The
Stercoraceous Geotrupe. 4. The Wide-necked Scarab. 5. Cleonus
Ophthalmicus. 6. Cerceris Tuberculata. 7. Buprestis Ærea facing 80
Fig. 11.—The Stercoraceous Geotrupe’s sausage 121
Fig. 12.—Section of the Stercoraceous Geotrupe’s sausage at its
lower end, showing the egg and the hatching-chamber 122
PLATE VI.—Minotaurus Typhœus, male and female. Excavating
Minotaurus’ burrow facing 132
PLATE VII.—The Minotaurus couple engaged on miller’s and baker’s
work facing 137
PLATE VIII.—1. The Common or Garden Scolia. 2. The Two-banded
Scolia. 3. Grub of Cetonia Aurata progressing on its back.
4. The Two-banded Scolia paralyzing a Cetonia grub. 5. Cetonia
grubs progressing on their backs, with their legs in the air;
two are in a resting position, rolled up facing 146
PLATE IX.—1. Lycosa Narbonensis. 2. The Ringed Calicurgus.
3. Ammophila Hirsuta. 4. Ammophila Sabulosa. 5. Scroll of
Rhynchites Vitis. 6. Scroll of Rhynchites Populi facing 162
PLATE X.—The large glass case containing the Scorpions facing 226
PLATE XI.—1. Nuptial allurements, showing “the straight bend.”
2. The wedding stroll. 3. The couple enter the nuptial
dwelling facing 240
PLATE XII.—1. The Languedocian Scorpion devouring a cricket.
2. After pairing-time: the female feasting on her Scorpion.
3. The mother and her family, with emancipation-time at
hand facing 252

THE SACRED BEETLE

THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT