The Wonders of Instinct | Page 4

6.
THE BURYING-BEETLES: EXPERIMENTS.
CHAPTER 7.
THE BLUEBOTTLE.
CHAPTER 8.
THE PINE-PROCESSIONARY.
CHAPTER 9.
THE SPIDERS.
CHAPTER 10.
THE BANDED EPEIRA.
CHAPTER 11.
THE EUMENES.
CHAPTER 12.
THE OSMIAE.
CHAPTER 13.
THE GLOW-WORM.
CHAPTER 14.
THE CABBAGE-CATERPILLAR.
INDEX.

Note:--Chapters 5 and 6 have been translated by Mr. Bernard Miall; the
remainder by Mr. Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
THE HARMAS. 1. The author and his two daughters in the lilac-walk.
2. J.H. Fabre's house at Sérignan.
THE EMPUSA.
INSECTS AT REST. Bees and wasps asleep, extended in space by the
strength of their mandibles.
THE LARVA OF THE GREAT CAPRICORN. 1. The grub. 2. The
grub digging its galleries in the trunk of the oak.
THE GREAT CAPRICORN: THE MALE AND THE FEMALE.
EXPERIMENTS.
EXPERIMENT 1. The mole is fixed fore and aft, with a lashing of
raphia, to a light horizontal cross-bar resting on two forks. The
Necrophori, after long tiring themselves in digging under the body, end
by severing the bonds.
EXPERIMENT 2. A dead mouse is placed on the branches of a tuft of
thyme. By dint of jerking, shaking and tugging at the body, the
Burying-beetles succeed in extricating it from the twigs and bringing it
down.
EXPERIMENT 3. With a ligament of raphia, the Mole is fixed by the
hind feet to a twig planted vertically in the soil. The head and shoulders
touch the ground. By digging under these, the Necrophori at the same
time uproot the gibbet, which eventually falls, dragged over by the
weight of its burden.
EXPERIMENT 4. The stake is slanting; the Mole touches the ground,
but at a point two inches from the base of the gibbet. The
Burying-beetles begin by digging to no purpose under the body. They

make no attempt to overturn the stake. In this experiment they obtain
the Mole at last by employing the usual method, that is by gnawing the
bond.
THE BLUEBOTTLE LAYING HER EGGS IN THE SLIT OF A
DEAD BIRD'S BEAK.
THE LYCOSA LIFTING HER WHITE BAG OF EGGS TOWARDS
THE SUN, TO ASSIST THE HATCHING. The Lycosa lying head
downwards on the edge of her pit, holding in her hind-legs her white
bag of eggs and lifting them towards the sun, to assist the hatching.
THE BANDED EPEIRA INSCRIBING HER FLOURISH, AFTER
FINISHING HER WEB.
THE BANDED EPEIRA LETTING HERSELF DROP BY THE END
OF HER THREAD.
THE BANDED EPEIRA SWATHING HER CAPTURE. The web has
given way in many places during the struggle.
OSMIA-NESTS IN A BRAMBLE TWIG.
OSMIA-NESTS INSIDE A REED.
ARTIFICIAL HIVE INVENTED BY THE AUTHOR TO STUDY
THE OSMIA'S LAYING. It consists of reed-stumps arranged Pan-pipe
fashion.
OLD NESTS USED BY THE OSMIA IN LAYING HER EGGS.
1. Nest of the Mason-bee of the Shrubs.
2. Osmia-grubs in empty shells of the Garden Snail.
3. Nests of the Mason-bee of the Sheds.
THE GLOW-WORM: a, male; b, female.

THE CABBAGE CATERPILLAR: a, the caterpillars; b, the cocoons of
their parasite, Microgaster glomeratus.

THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT.
CHAPTER 1.
THE HARMAS.
This is what I wished for, hoc erat in votis: a bit of land, oh, not so very
large, but fenced in, to avoid the drawbacks of a public way; an
abandoned, barren, sun-scorched bit of land, favoured by thistles and
by Wasps and Bees. Here, without fear of being troubled by the
passers-by, I could consult the Ammophila and the Sphex (two species
of Digger-or Hunting-wasps.--Translator's Note.) and engage in that
difficult conversation whose questions and answers have experiment
for their language; here, without distant expeditions that take up my
time, without tiring rambles that strain my nerves, I could contrive my
plans of attack, lay my ambushes and watch their effects at every hour
of the day. Hoc erat in votis. Yes, this was my wish, my dream, always
cherished, always vanishing into the mists of the future.
And it is no easy matter to acquire a laboratory in the open fields, when
harassed by a terrible anxiety about one's daily bread. For forty years
have I fought, with steadfast courage, against the paltry plagues of life;
and the long-wished-for laboratory has come at last. What it has cost
me in perseverance and relentless work I will not try to say. It has come;
and, with it--a more serious condition--perhaps a little leisure. I say
perhaps, for my leg is still hampered with a few links of the convict's
chain.
The wish is realized. It is a little late, O! my pretty insects! I greatly
fear that the peach is offered to me when I am beginning to have no
teeth wherewith to eat it. Yes, it is a little late: the wide horizons of the
outset have shrunk into a low and stifling canopy, more and more
straitened day by day. Regretting nothing in the