Back Matter

Notes

Introduction

1. Letters to his brother, 1898-1900.

2. I have made some valuable "finds" here; among other pieces cited the fragment on Playthings, the curious description of the Eclipse,  and the poem on Number are here published for the first time.

3. This negligence in the matter of correspondence is not least among the causes which have mitigated against his popularity.

I

1. "It is a country that has very little charm." To his brother, 18th August, 1846.

2. Praticien, homme d'affaires ou de chicane:  roughly, "practitioner, man of business or law": so his father is described in his birth certificate.

3. Souvenirs entomologiques,  2nd series, chap. iv, and 7th series, chap. xix.

4. Id., 8th series, chap. viii.

5. To his brother, 15th August, 1896.

6. Id.  "As brothers, we are one only; but in virtue of our different tastes we are two, and I am amused and interested where you might well be bored."

7. Frédéric Fabre, like his brother, an ex-scholar of the normal primary school of Vaucluse, was first of all teacher at Lapalud (Vaucluse), then professor in the communal college of Orange. He was director of the primary school attached to the normal school of Avignon, where he voluntarily retired from teaching in 1859. He then became, successively, secretary to the Chamber of Commerce of Avignon, director of the Vaucluse Docks, and finally director of the Crillon Canal, which position he still occupies (Dec., 1912).

8. Souvenirs entomologiques,  loth series, chap. ix.

9. Among his innumerable manuscripts I have found a vast number of little poems, which date from this period.

10. It was then that he gave up his position to his brother Frédéric, who had continually followed closely in his steps, and who in turn had just obtained the qualification of pupil-teacher and bursar (August, 1842).

11. Souvenirs entomologiques,  10th series, chap. xxi.

12. To his brother, 2nd and 9th of June, 1851.

II

1. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, chap. xx, and 9th series, chap. xiii.

2. Id., 6th series, chap. xxi.

3. To his brother, from Ajaccio, 10th June, 1850.

4. Id., id.

5. Id., from Carpentras, 15th August, 1846.

6. Id., from Ajaccio, loth June, 1850.

7. Id., from Carpentras, 15th August, 1846.

8. Id., id.

9. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, chap. xiv.

10. To his brother, from Carpentras, 3rd Sept., 1848.

11. Id., 8th Sept., 1848.

12. Id., id.

13. Id., 3rd Sept., 1848.

14. Id., id.

15. Letter to the Rector of the Nimes Academy, 29th Sept., 1848.

16. To his brother, 29th Sept., 1848.

III

1. To his father, from Ajaccio, 14th April, 185O.

2. To his brother, from Ajaccio, 1851.

3. To his brother, from Ajaccio, 9th June, 1851. "I have set to work upon a conchology of Corsica, which I hope soon to publish."

4. The Helix Raspaillii.

5. To his brother, from Ajaccio, ioth June, 1850.

6. Id., id.

7. Souvenirs entomologiques,  9th series, chap. xiv.

8. Number (Le Nombre—APIΘMOΣ), poem, Ajaccio, Sept., 1852.

9. To his brother, from Ajaccio, 2nd June, 1851.

10. Id., 10th Oct., 1852, and Souvenirs entomologiques, loth series, chap. xxi.

11. Fr. Mistral, Mémoires. 

Moquin-Tandon, born at Montpellier, was professor of Natural History at Marseilles, at Toulouse, and in Paris.

12. To his brother, from Ajaccio, 10th Oct., 1852.

13. Id.

14. To his brother, from Carpentras, 3rd Dec., 1851.

"Our crossing was atrocious. Never have I seen so terrible a sea, and that the packet-boat was not broken up by the force of the waves must have been due to the fact that our time had not yet come. On two or three occasions I thought my last moment was at hand; I leave you to imagine what a terrible experience I had. In ordinary weather the packet by which we travelled makes the voyage from Ajaccio to Marseilles in about eighteen hours; it is said to be the fastest steamer on the Mediterranean. On this occasion it took three days and two nights."

75. January, 7853.

IV

1. To his brother, from Avignon, 1st August, 1854. "I have arrived at Toulouse, where I have passed the best examination one could possibly wish. I have been accepted as licentiate with the most flattering compliments, and the expenses of the examination should be returned to me. The examination was of a higher level than I had expected."

2. To M.—— (of the Institute), from Avignon, 1854. (Letter communicated to M. Belleudy, prefect of Vaucluse, by M. Vollon, painter.)

3. Id.

4. To his brother, from Ajaccio, Loth Oct., 1852.

5. Observations concerning the habits of the Cerceris and the cause of the long preservation of the coleoptera with which it provisions its larva.—Annales de Sc. natur.,  4th series, 7855.

6. Souvenirs entomologiques,  10th series, chap. xxii.

7. "I had only one idea: to free myself, to leave the lyzie, where, not being a fellow, I was treated as a subordinate. An inspector-general told me frankly one day, 'You will never amount to anything if you are not a fellow' (agrégé). These distinctions disgust me,' I replied." (Conversations.)

8. To his brother, from Ajaccio, 14th Jan., 1850.

9. Inquiries respecting the tubercles of Himantoglossum hircinum.  Thesis in Botany, 1855.

10. Inquiries respecting the anatomy of the reproductive organs, and the developments of the Myriapoda. Thesis in Zoology, 1855.

11. Prize for experimental physiology, 1856.

12. Letter to Léon Dufour, 1st Feb., 1857.

13. The Origin of Species,  1857, translated by Barbier, p. 15.

14. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, chap. i, and 5th series, chap. i.

15. Id., 1st series, chap. xvi.

16. Id., 1st series, chap. i.

17. Henry Devillario, magistrate at Carpentras, where he performed his duties as juge d'instruction  until his death. A notable collector and distinguished publicist.

Dr. Bordone, to-day at Frontignan. Vayssieres, professor of Zoology in the faculty of sciences at Marseilles.

18. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, chap. xiii.

19. He was subject in his youth to violent headaches, "which sometimes developed into a cerebral fever," as well as strange nervous troubles: "A few days ago I was attacked, at night, with a sudden nervous illness, of a terrifying nature, which I have not as yet been able to identify." To his brother, 3rd Sept., 1848.

Severe disappointment or annoyance always had a great effect upon him; on the occasion of his first marriage he fell into a sort of cataleptic condition as a result of the opposition of his parents and relations, who sought to oppose it. (Conversations with his brother.)

20. Souvenirs entomologiques,  9th series, chap. xxiii.

21. Id., loth series, chap. xxii.

22. Letter to Léon Dufour, 1st Feb, 1857.

"Steps have been taken to obtain for me the post of drawing-master (maitre des travaux graphiques ). If they succeed, thanks to the little talent I have for drawing, my salary will reach a reasonable figure, £120, and I can then, by giving up these abominable private lessons, cultivate rather more seriously the studies into which you have initiated me." Communicated by M. Achard.

23. Souvenirs entomologiques,  l0th series, chap. xxii.

24. Oubreto Prouvençalo. La Cigale et la Fourmi.

25. Lavisse. A minister. Victor Duruy.

26. Letter to the municipal councillors of Avignon.

27. J. Stuart Mill, Autobiography,  chap. vi.

28. I have visited this house; nothing, at all events outside, has changed in the least.

29. Mill collaborated in his Flare du Vaucluse:  "A virtuous man whose recent loss we shall all deplore joined his efforts to mine in this undertaking." Letter to the Mayor of Avignon, 1st Dec., 1833, communicated by M. Félix Achard.

V

1. Chimie agricole. 

2. Le Ciel.  Lectures et Lecons pour tous.

3. La Terre.  Lectures et Lecons pour tous.

4. La Chimie de l'oncle Paul.  Lectures courantes pour toutes les écoles.

5. Histoire de la bûche. 

6. Les jouets. Le Toton  (manuscript).

The primitive fountain, the "antique appliance" transmitted by inheritance, "the invention perhaps of some little unemployed herd-boy," consisted originally of three apertures and three straws; two similar apertures on one side, with two short straws, which dipped into the water, and a single orifice on the other side for the longer straw which delivered the water. Happening one day to use only two straws, one on each side, the little Fabre perceived that the device worked just as well, and "so, quite unconsciously, without thinking of it, I discovered the syphon, the true syphon of the physicist." Loco cit. 

7. "The chemistry course is a great success at home." To his brother, from Orange, 1875.

8. To his son Emile, 4th Nov., 1879.

"The household; discussions as to domestic economy for use in girls' schools."

9. Souvenirs entomologiques,  znd series, chap. i.

10. To the Mayor of Avignon, 1st Dec., 1873. Communicated by M. Félix Achard.

11. Letter to his brother, 1875.

12. Id.

VI

1. Souvenirs entomologiques,  znd series, chap. i. L'Harmas. 

2. Id., 6th series, chap. v.

3. The Lumbricus phosphoreus  of Dugés. Fabre had already clearly perceived that this curious phenomenon of phosphorescence appears at birth, and he saw in it a process of oxidation, a species of respiration, especially active in certain tissues.

Letter to Léon Dufour, 1st Feb., 1857. Communicated by M. Félix Achard.

4. To his brother, from Carpentras, 15th Aug., 1846.

5. He died at the age of 96.

6. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, chap. xxi.

7. To his son Emile, 4th Nov., 1879.

8. To Henry Devillario, 3oth March, 1883.

9. Id., 17th Dec., 1888.

VII

1. Souvenirs entomologiques,  8th series, chap. xii.

2. Id., 7th series, chap. xvi.

3. Id., 1st series, chap. iv.

4. Id., znd series, chap. iii.

5. Id., 6th series, chap. xxi.

6. Id., 1st series, chap. xix, and 2nd series, chap. vii.

7. Id., 7th series, chap. xxiii.

8. Maeterlinck, The Bee. 

9. Souvenirs entomologiques,  7th series, chap. ii.

10. Id., 8th series, chap. xxii.

11. Id., 6th series, chap. vi.

12. Id., 9th series, chap. x.

13. Bergson, l'Evolution créatrice .

14. Souvenirs entomologiques,  10th series, chap. vi.

15. Les Serviteurs  and Les Auxiliaires. 

16. François Raspail, born at Carpentras in 1794, was also a professor at the college of Carpentras.

17. To his brother, 3rd Sept., 1848.

The improvement did not last long; the child died finally a short time afterwards.

18. Souvenirs entomologiques,  10th series, chap. xxi.

19. Ed. Perrier. Private letter, 27th Oct., 1909.

"He is the finest of all our observers, and all scientists should bow to the facts which he excels in discovering."

20. Souvenirs entomologiques,  6th series, chap. xxv.

21. Id., 10th series, chap. xvi.

22. Id., 10th series, chap. xx.

23. Manuscripts, unpublished observations.

24. A common spectacle in Provence, but one which Fabre never wearied of seeing.

25. Souvenirs entomologiques,  6th series, chap. xvii.

26. We know that the great naturalist was far from being charmed by the song of the nightingale.

27. Manuscripts, unpublished observation. These remarks deal with the solar eclipse of 28th May, 1900.

28. Among the insects which he has observed there are many which are not always sufficiently characterized. Insectes coléoptères observes aux environs d'Avignon.  Avignon, pub. Seguin, 1870.

29. Coleoptera observed in the neighbourhood of Avignon. A catalogue now very scarce, a copy of which I owe to the kindness of Dr. Chobaut, of Avignon.

30. Nomina si nescis, perit et cognitio rerun. 

31. Souvenirs entomologiques,  4th series, chap. xi.

32. Id., gth series, chap. xix.

33. Id., 1st series, chap. ix.

34. "Jenner's Legend of the isolation of the young Cuckoo in the nest," by Xavier Raspail, Bull. de la Soc. Zool. de France,  1903.

35. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, passim. 

36. Id., 4th series, chap. xiv.

37. Id., 1st series, chap. vii.

38. Id., 2nd series, chap. ii.

VIII

1. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, chap. ii.

2. Bergson, l'Evolution créatrice. 

3. Souvenirs entomologiques,  2nd series, chap. iv.

4. Id., 5th series, chap. viii.

5. Id., 9th series, chap. iii.

6. Id., 1st series, chap. xxii.

7. Id., 4th series, chap. iii.

8. Id., 4th series, chap. iii.

9. Id., 4th and 1st series, chap. xix.

10. Id., 9th series, chap. xxiv.

11. Id., 10th series, chap. v.

12. Id., 4th series, chap. vi.

13. Id., 9th series, chap. xvi.

14. Id., znd series, chap. v.

15. Id., 5th series, chap. vii.

16. Id., 6th series, chap. viii.

17. Id., 3rd series, chaps. xvii, xviii, xix and xx.

18. Id., 2nd series, chap. xv.

19. Id., 3rd series, chap. xi.

20. Emerson.

21. Souvenirs entomologiques,  4th series, chap. ix.

22. Unpublished observations.

23. Mireille,  3rd canto.

IX

1. Souvenirs entomologiques,  8th series, chap. xxi.

2. Les Ravageurs,  chap. xxxiv, agriculture.

3. Souvenirs entomologiques,  10th series, chap. xii.

4. Id., 1st series, chap. ii., and 10th series, chap. xiii.

5. Id., 2nd series, chap. xvii.

6. Id., 7th series, chap. xx.

7. Id., 2nd series, chap. iv.

8. At novitas mundi nec frigora dura ciebat, Nec nimios astus. 

LUCRETIUS, De Natura rerum.

9. In this connection see the excellent introduction written by M. Edmond Perrier to serve as preface to the work of M. de Romanes: l'Intelligence des animaux. 

10. Souvenirs entomologiques,  8th series, chap. xx.

11. To Henry Devillario, 30th March, 1883.

12. To Henry Devillario, 12th May, 1883.

13. To his brother, 1900.

14. Letters to his brother.

"I am not sulking; far from it . . . I have no lack of ink and paper; I am too careful of them to lack them; but I do lack time. . . . So you still think I am sulking because I do not reply! But imagine, my dear and petulant brother, that for several weeks I have been pursuing, with unequalled persistence, some abominable conic problems proposed at the fellowship examination, and once I have mounted my hobby-horse, good-bye to letters, good-bye to replies, good-bye to everything." (Carpentras, 27th Nov. 1848.)

"You are right, seven times right to storm at me, to grumble at my silence, and I admit, in all contrition, that I am the worst correspondent you could find. To force myself to write a letter is to place myself on the rack, as well you know. . . . But why do you get it into your head, why do you tell me, that I disdain you, that I forget you, that I ignore you, you, my best friend? . . . For my silence blame only the multiplicity of tasks, which often surpasses, not my courage, but my strength and my time." (Ajaccio, 1st June, 1851.)

15. Souvenirs entomologiques,  10th series, chap. viii.

16. Id., 9th series, chap. ii.

X

1. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, chap. xxi.

2. Id., 9th series, chap. ii.

3. Id., 10th series, chap. iv.

4. Montaigne's Essays.

5. Souvenirs entomologiques,  8th series, chap. xvii.

6. Les Ravageurs. 

7. Souvenirs entomologiques,  10th series, chap. xviii, and Merveilles de l'instinct: la Chenille du thou. 

8. Id., 8th series, chap. xvii.

XI

1. Souvenirs entomologiques,  3rd series, chap. viii.

2. Id., 2nd series, chap. xiv et seq. 

3. Id., 6th series, chap. ix.

4. Id., 5th series, chap. xix.

5. Tolstoy: "All that the human heart contains of evil should disappear at the contact of nature, that most immediate expression of the beautiful and the good.'(The Invaders. )

6. The Livre d'histoires  and Chimie agricole. 

7. Oubreto Prouvençalo. La Bise. 

8. Id., Le Semeur. 

9. Id., Le Crapaud. 

XII

1. Oubreto Prouvençalo. Le Maréchal. 

2. Oubreto Prouvençalo. 

3. In this connection see the admirable passage in Sainte-Beuve's Port-Royal,  Book II, chap. xiv.

4. Souvenirs entomologiques,  4th series, chap. i.

5. Id., 1st series, chap. xvii.

6. Id., 7th series, chap. viii.

7. Id., 7th series, chap. x.

8. Id., 8th series, chap. viii.

9. Id., 8th series, chap. xx.

10. Id., 6th series, chap. xiv.

11. Id., 8th series, chap. xviii.

12. Id., 10th series, chap. viii.

13. Id., roth series, chap. vi.

14. Id., 5th series, chap. xxii.

XIII

1. Souvenirs entomologiques,  10th series, chap. xvii.

2. Id., 9th series, chap. iv, l'Exode des araignées  (the Exodus of the Spiders), and chap. v, l'Araignée crabe  (the Crab Spider).

3. Id., 5th series, chap. xvii.

4. Id., 3rd series, chap. xiii.

5. Id., 6th series, chap. xiv.

Oubreto. Le Grillon,  and unpublished verses.

6. Souvenirs entomologiques,  2nd series, chap. xvi.

7. Id., 9th series, chap. xxi.

8. Les Merveilles de l'instinct: le Ver luisant  (Marvels of Instinct: the Glow-worm).

9. Souvenirs entomologiques,  2nd series, chap. xii.

10. Id., 8th series, chap. xxii, and 9th series, chap. xi.

11. Id., 5th series, chap. xviii.

XIV

1. Grandjean de Fouchy: eulogy of Réaumur, in Recueils de l'Acad. des sciences,  vol. clvii H, p. 201, and Preface to the Lettres inidites de Réaumur,  by G. Musset.

2. Memories, passim,  and vol. ii, 1st mémoire. 

3. Id., vol. iii, 3rd mémoire. 

4. Id., vol. ii, 1st mémoire. 

Ch. Tellier, Le Frigorifique  (Refrigeration), story of a modern invention, chap. xxiii; cold applied to the animal kingdom.

5. Léon Dufour: Journal de sa vie. 

Souvenirs and impressions of travel in the Pyrenees to Gavarnie, Héas, the Montagnes maudites,  etc. Entomological excursions on the dunes of Biscarosse and Arcachon.

6. Id., direction of entomological studies.

7. Souvenirs entomologiques,  2nd series, chap. i: L'Harmas. 

8. Id., 5th series, chap. xi.

XV

1. Louis Charrasse, private letter, 20th Feb., 1912, and Le Bassin du Rhône,  March, 1911.

2. Oubreto. Le Crapaud. 

3. It was only in the afternoon that he devoted himself, when needful, to microscopic researches, on account of the better inclination of the light.

4. He lost it at the end of last spring.

5. Les Serviteurs. Le Canard. 

6. Souvenirs entomologiques,  1st series, chap. xiii: an ascent of Mont Ventoux.

7. The name given to Christmas in Provence.

8. Louis Charrasse, private letters.

9. Id.

10. 1888-1892.

11. Souvenirs entomologiques,  2nd series, chap. ii.

12. Louis Charrasse, private letter.

13. Letter to his nephew, Antonin Fabre, 4th Jan., 1885.

14. Souvenirs entomologiques,  6th series, chap. xix.

15. Id., 6th series, chap. ii.

16. Id., 6th series, chap. xi.

17. Conversations.

XVI

1. Letter to his brother, 4th Feb., 1900.

2. To his brother, 18th July, 1908. At this time the eighth volume of his Souvenirs  had just appeared, and the ninth was in hand.

3. Id.

4. Chimie agricole. 

5. To his brother, 10th Oct., 1898.

6. Private letter, 30th March, 1908.

7. Id.

8. Id.

9. Unpublished experiments.

10. To Charles Delagrave, 27th Jan., 1899.

11. To his brother, 4th Feb., 1900.

12. This prize was awarded to Fabre in 1899. The amount of the prize is £400. It is one of the chief prizes of the Institute.

13. Edmond Rostand. Private letter, 7th April, 1910: "His books have been my delight during a very long convalescence."

14. This magnificent atlas, the gem of Fabre's collections, comprises nearly 700 plates, and a large body of explanatory and descriptive matter.

15. To Charles Delagrave, undated.

16. Maeterlinck. Private letter, 17th Nov., 1909.

"Les 4 Chemins,

"Grasse (Alpes-Maritimes).

"You overwhelm me with pleasure and do me the greatest honour in allowing my name to be inscribed among those of the committee which proposes to celebrate the jubilee of Henri Fabre. . . . Henri Fabre is, indeed, one of the chiefest and purest glories that the civilized world at present possesses; one of the most learned naturalists and the most wonderful of poets in the modern and truly legitimate sense of the word. I cannot tell you how delighted I am by the chance you offer me of expressing in this way one of the profoundest admirations of my life."

17. J. Belleudy, prefect of Vaucluse. Private letter, 29th Sept., 1909.

"It pains me to see so great a mind, so eminent a scientist, such a master of French literature, so little known. Two years ago, when the Gegner prize was awarded to him, I felt that I must speak of him to certain of those about me; and they had hardly heard his name!"

18. Letter to Frederic Mistral, 4th July, 1908.

19. Council General of Vaucluse, session of August, 5908. The words of the recorder, M. Lacour, mayor of Orange, to-day deputy for Vaucluse, a personal friend and ardent admirer of the old master.

20. Edmond Rostand. Private letter, 20th Nov., 1909.

"I am, sir, not only greatly touched, but also and above all delighted that you have thought of including me among the friends who wish to fete Henri Fabre. Thanks for having considered that my name would assist your undertaking. The Souvenirs entomologiques have long ago made me intimate with his charming, profound, and moving genius. I owe them an infinity of delightful hours. Perhaps also I ought to thank them for having encouraged one of my sons to pursue the vocation which he entered. If, in order to honour Henri Fabre, you run the pious risk of disturbing, for a moment, the studious retreat in which, for so many years, he has pursued his life and his work, it is an act of justice toward this great scientist, who thinks as a philosopher, sees as an artist, and feels and expresses himself as a poet."

Romain Rolland. Private letter, 7th Jan., 1910.

"You cannot imagine what pleasure you have given me by requesting me to associate myself in the glorification of J. H. Fabre. He is one of the Frenchmen whom I most admire. The impassioned patience of his ingenious observations delights me as much as the masterpieces of art. For years I have read and loved his books. During my last holidays, of three volumes that I travelled with two were volumes of his Souvenirs entomologiques.  You will honour me and delight me by counting me as one of you."

21. Edmond Rostand. Telegram.

22. Romain Rolland.