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barely exceeds that of the plant; which; a stranger to any sense of

affection or morality; none the less exercises the most exquisite care in

respect of its seeds。〃



Moreover; the impulse to work is only a kind of unconscious pleasure。 When

the Pelopaeus 〃has stored her lair with game;〃 when the Cerceris has sealed

the crypt to which she has confided the future of her race; neither one nor

the other can foresee 〃the future offspring which their faceted eyes will

never behold; and the very object of their labours is to them occult。〃



With them; as with all; life can only be a perpetual illusion。



Yet the marvellous edifice of the 〃Souvenirs entomologiques〃 is consummated

by the astonishing history of the Minotaur; whose habits surpass in ideal

beauty all that could be imagined。



At the bottom of a burrow; in a deeply sunken vault; two dung…beetles are

at work; the Minotaurs; who; once united; recognize one another; and can

find one another again if separated; but do not voluntarily separate;

realizing 〃the moral beauty of the double life〃 and 〃the touching concept

of the family; the sacred group par excellence。〃 The male buries himself

with his companion; remains faithful to her; comes to her assistance; and

〃stores up treasure for the future。 Never discouraged by the heavy labour

of climbing; leaving to the mother only the more moderate labour; keeping

the severest for himself; the heavy task of transport in a narrow tunnel;

very deep and almost vertical; he goes foraging; forgetful of himself;

heedless of the intoxicating delights of spring; though it would be so good

to see something of the country; to feast with his brothers; and to pester

the neighbours; but no! he collects the food which is to nourish his

children; and then; when all is ready for the new…comers; when their living

is assured; having spent himself without counting the cost; exhausted by

his efforts; and feeling himself failing; he leaves his home and goes away

to die; that he may not pollute the dwelling with a corpse。〃



The mother; on her side; allows nothing to divert her from her household;

and only returns to the surface when accompanied by her young; who disperse

at will。 Then; having nothing more to do; the devoted creature perishes in

turn。 (10/3。)



Compared with the Scarabaeus; which contents itself with idle wandering; or

even with the meritorious Sisyphus; does it not seem that the Minotaur

moves on an infinitely higher plane?



What nobler could be found among ourselves? What father ever better

comprehended his duties and obligations toward his family? What morality

could be more irreproachable; what fairer example could be meditated?



〃Is not life everywhere the same; in the body of the dung…beetle as in that

of man? If we examine it in the insect; do we not examine it in ourselves?〃



Whence does the Minotaur derive these particular graces? How has it risen

to so high a level on the wings of pure instinct? How could we explain the

rarity of so sublime an example; did we not know; to satiety; that 〃nature

everywhere is but an enigmatic poem; as who should say a veiled and misty

picture; shining with an infinite variety of deceptive lights in order to

evoke our conjectures〃? (10/4。)



Nevertheless; it is a fact that the majority have no other rule of conduct

than to follow the trend of their instincts; and to obey 〃their unbridled

desires。〃 No one better than Fabre has expounded the blind operation of

these little natural forces; the brutality of their manners; their

cannibalism; and what we might call their amorality; were it possible to

employ our human formulae outside our own human world。



With the gardener…beetles; if one is crippled; none of the same race halts

or lingers; none attempts to come to his aid。 Sometimes the passers…by

hasten to the invalid to devour him。〃



In the republic of the wasps 〃the grubs recognized as incurable are

pitilessly torn from their place and dragged out of the nest。 Woe to the

sick! they are helpless and at once expelled。〃



When the winter comes all the larvae are massacred; and the whole vespine

city ends in a horrible tragedy。



But life is a whole; and all conduct is good whose actions realize an

object and are adapted to an end。 If there is a 〃spirit〃 of the hive; the

insect also has its morality and the wasp's nest its 〃law;〃 and the conduct

of its inmates; horrible though it may seem to Fabre; is doubtless only a

submission to certain exigencies of that universal law which makes nature a

〃savage foster…mother who knows nothing of pity。〃



These cruelties particularly show us that one of the functions of the

insect in nature is to preside over the disappearance and also the ultimate

metamorphoses of the least 〃remnants of life。〃



Each has its providential hygienic function。



The Necrophori; 〃the first of the tiny scavengers of the fields;〃 bury

corpses in order to establish their progeny in them; in the space of a few

hours an enormous body; a mole; a water…rat; or an adder; will completely

disappear; buried under the earth。



The Onthophagi purify the soil; 〃dividing all filth into tiny crumbs;

ridding the earth of its defilements。〃



A very small beetle; the Trox; has the imprescriptible mission of purging

the earth of the rabbits' fur rejected by the fox。 (10/5。)



Here structure explains the function。



The intestine of the grub of the rose…beetle 〃is a veritable triturating

mill; which transforms vegetable matter into mould; in a month it will

digest a volume of matter equal to several thousand times the initial

volume of the grub。〃



The intestine of the Scarabaei is prolonged to a prodigious length in order

to 〃drain the excrement to the last atom in its manifold circuits。 The

sheep has finely divided the vegetable matter; the grub; that incomparable

triturator; reduces it to the finest possible consistency; not a morsel is

left in which the magnifying glass can reveal a fibre。〃



To fulfil its hygienic mission the insect arrives in due season; and

multiplies its legions; 〃there are twenty thousand eggs in the flanks of

the house fly; immediately they are hatched these twenty thousand maggots

set to work; so that Linnaeus has said that three flies would suffice to

devour the body of a horse or a lion。〃



Feeding only upon wheat; a single weevil; the Calendar beetle; produces ten

thousand eggs; whence issue as many larvae; each of them devouring its

grain。



In all species the number of births is at first exaggerated; for all; the

obscure; the nameless; the most destructive; our pests as well as our most

precious helpers; have their utility and their part to play in the general

scheme of life; a raison d'être in the eternal renewal of things; which is

without reference to the vexatious or beneficent quality of their behaviour

to us。



Each has its rank assigned; each has its task; to one the flower; to

another the roots; to a third the leaves; the vine has its caterpillars;

its beetles; its butterflies; the clover; its moths and mites。 (10/6。)



Man sees himself forced to submit to them; and spends himself in vain

efforts to carry on an often useless campaign。 Nothing seems to affect

them; neither drought; nor rain; nor even the severest cold; and the eggs

and larvae; organizations apparently delicate in the extreme; are often

more tenacious of life than the adults。 Fabre has proved this: let the

temperature suddenly fall twenty degrees: the eggs of Geotrupes and the

larvae of the cockchafer or the rose…beetle endure such vicissitudes of

temperature with impunity; contracted and stiffened into little masses of

ice; but not destroyed; they revive in spring no less than the eel fry; the

rotifers; or the tardigrades。 One can scarcely believe that life still

persists in a state of suspense only in these little frozen creatures;

whose organization is already so complicated。



Then; of a sudden; the ravagers disappear; more often than not none knows

how or why; deliverance is at hand。 What indeed would become of the world

were nothing to moderate such fecundity?



Again; each species has its trials which appear in time to moderate its

surplusage; and Fabre expounds for us; with a stern philosophy; the

terrible devices by which this repression is effected。



Each has its appointed enemy; which lives upon it or its offspring; and

which in turn becomes the prey of some smaller creature。 The gentle itself;

〃the king of the dead;〃 has its parasites。 While it swims in the

deliquescence of putrefying flesh a minute Chalcidian perforates its skin

with an imperceptible wound; and introduces its terrible eggs; whence in

the future will issue larvae which to…morrow will devour the devourers of

to…day。



None exists save to the detriment of others。 Everywhere; even in the

smallest; we find 〃an atrocious activity; a cunning brigandage;〃 a savage

extermination; wh

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