Subject:  MSR The Life of the Fly
Author:  J. Henri Fabre
Uploaded By:  HOST Comp Joots
Date:  5/9/2003

File:  The Life of the Fly.lit (327225 bytes) 
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Keywords:  The Life of the Fly, J. Henri Fabre, Science

The Life of the Fly by J. Henri Fabre

                            "Fabre is the Homer of the insect."
                                                                 Victor Hugo

"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, favored by thistles and by wasps and bees.  Here, without fear of being troubled by the passersby, I could consult the Ammophila and the Sphex [two digger or hunting wasps] 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."

J(ean) Henri Fabre (1823-1915), was a French amateur entomologist with with acute powers of observation and an exquisite writing style. THE LIFE OF THE FLY is particularly interesting since he has added autobiographic chapters in-between the chapters about flies. These are considered some of his best writing. Fabre worked all his life on his books and studies and received recognition only at the end of his life. His works on insects remain classics.

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