THE LIFE OF JEAN HENRI FABRE THE ENTOMOLOGIST 1823–1910 BY THE ABBE AUGUSTIN FABRE TRANSLATED BY Bernard Miall NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1921 TO MY PARENTS IN TOKEN OF GRATITUDE AND ADMIRATION FOR THE LABOURS AND THE EXAMPLE OF THEIR LIVES NOTE BY TRANSLATOR Those who wish to become more fully acquainted with Jean-Henri Fabre’s delightful Souvenirs Entomologiques will find them, arranged in a different order, in the admirable series of translations from the pen of Mr. Teixeira de Mattos, published by Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Company, New York; a series which will, before long, be complete and contain the whole of the ten volumes of Souvenirs. Other translations are The Life and Love of the Insect, translated by Mr. Teixeira de Mattos; Social Life in the Insect World, translated by myself; Wonders of Instinct, translated by Mr. Teixeira and myself; and Fabre, Poet of Science (another biography), by Dr. G. V. Legros, translated by myself. Post-war conditions have made it necessary somewhat to abridge the author’s text, which fills two volumes. If, however, as I hope, these pages send the reader to my friend Mr. Teixeira’s delightful versions of the Souvenirs, their principal aim will be fulfilled. Bernard Miall. 1921. AUTHOR’S PREFACE I was eighteen years old; I was dreaming of diplomas, of a doctor’s degree, of a brilliant university career. To encourage me and incite me to emulation, one of my uncles, rather more well-informed than those about him, addressed me much as follows: “Put your back into it, my boy! Go ahead; follow the footsteps of your fellow-countryman and kinsman, Henri Fabre of Malaval, who has done what you want to do, and has become an eminent professor and a learned writer.” It is hardly credible, but this was the first time I had heard any one mention this famous namesake of mine, whose family, nevertheless, used to live on the opposite slope of the puech against which my tiny native mas was built. His remark was not unheeded, and the name then engraved upon my memory has never been erased from it.