Social Life in the Insect World

1912. J.H. Fabre, as some few people know, is the author of half a score of well-filled volumes in which, under the title of Souvenirs Entomologiques, he has set down the results of fifty years of observations, study and experiment on the insects that seem to us the best-known and the most familiar: different species of wasps and wild bees, a few gnats, flies, beetles and caterpillars; in a word, all those vague, unconscious, rudimentary and almost nameless little lives which surround us on every side and which we contemplate with eyes that are amused, but already thinking of other things, when we open our window to welcome the first hours of spring, or when we go into the gardens or the fields to bask in the blue summer days. Contents: The Fable of the Cigale and the Ant; The Cigale Leaves its Burrow; The Song of the Cigale; The Cigale, The Eggs and Their Hatching; The Mantis. The Chase; The Mantis. Courtship; The Mantis. The Nest; The Golden Scarabaeus. Its Food; The Golden Scarabaeus. Courtship; The Field Cricket; The Italian Cricket; The Sisyphus Beetle. The Instinct of Paternity; A Bee-Hunter: The Philanthus Aviporus; The Great Peacock or Emperor Moth; The Oak Eggar or Banded Monk; A Truffle-Hunter: The Bolboceras Gallicus; The Elephant-Beetle; The Pea-Weevil; An Invader: The Haricot Weevil; The Grey Cricket; and The Pine-Chafer.Fabre, J. Henri is the author of 'Social Life in the Insect World' with ISBN 9781417916443 and ISBN 1417916443.