THE WONDERS OF INSTINCT

CHAPTERS IN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INSECTS

BY

J. H. FABRE

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER 1. THE HARMAS.
CHAPTER 2. THE GREEN GRASSHOPPER.
CHAPTER 3. THE EMPUSA.
CHAPTER 4. THE CAPRICORN.
CHAPTER 5. THE BURYING-BEETLES: THE BURIAL.
CHAPTER 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; theremainder 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 theirmandibles.

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 severingthe bonds.

EXPERIMENT 2. A dead mouse is placed on the branches of a tuft ofthyme. By dint of jerking, shaking and tugging at the body, theBurying-beetles succeed in extricating it from the twigs and bringingit down.

EXPERIMENT 3. With a ligament of raphia, the Mole is fixed by the hindfeet to a twig planted vertically in the soil. The head and shoulderstouch the ground. By digging under these, the Necrophori at the sametime uproot the gibbet, which eventually falls, dragged over by theweight of its burden.

EXPERIMENT 4. The stake is slanting; the Mole touches the ground, butat a point two inches from the base of the gibbet. The Burying-beetlesbegin by digging to no purpose under the body. They make no attempt tooverturn the stake. In this experiment they obtain the Mole at last byemploying 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

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