Fabre's book of insects pdf

让·亨利·法布尔（Jean Henri Fabre，1823 年 12 月 22 日出生于法国圣莱昂，1915 年 10 月 11 日卒于 Sérignan-du-Comtat），法国昆虫学家，以研究昆虫的解剖学和行为而闻名。 法布尔在很大程度上是自学成才的，他被任命为卡彭特拉中学的老师，神父。 （1842 年），在科西嘉岛阿雅克肖中学担任物理教师（1843-51 年），并在阿维尼翁中学（1853 年）获得了教学职位。 法布尔对膜翅目（例如蜜蜂和黄蜂）、鞘翅目（例如甲虫）和直翅目（例如蚱蜢、蟋蟀）进行了重要的研究。根据他对黄蜂对猎物刺激区域的反应的麻痹行为的观察，他描述了遗传本能作为昆虫行为模式的重要性。 1866 年，他从茜草植物中分离出一种着色物质，后来被确定为茜素，可用作生物染色剂。他写了很多书来普及科学。虽然法布尔从未接受进化论，但他的工作受到达尔文的尊重。

Fabre's book of insects pdf 让-亨利·法布尔

Hailed by Darwin as "The Homer of Insects," famed French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre (1823–1915) devoted hours of rapt attention to insects while they hunted, built nests, and fed their families. Working in Provence, in barren, sun-scorched fields inhabited by countless wasps and bees, he observed their intricate and fascinating world, recounting their activities in simple, beautifully written essays. This volume, based on translations of Fabre's Souvenirs Entomologiques, blends folklore and mythology with factual explanation. Fabre's absorbing account of the scarab beetle's existence, for example, begins with the ancient Egyptians' symbolic view of this busy creature, eventually leading to a careful discussion of its characteristic method of rolling a carefully sculpted ball of food to its den. Elsewhere, he discusses with infectious enthusiasm the physiologic secrets behind the luminosity of fireflies, the musical talents of the locust, the comfortable home of the field cricket, and the cannibalism of the pious-looking praying mantis, among other topics. These charmingly related stories of insect life are a rare combination of scientific study and literary classic that will delight entomologists, naturalists, and nature lovers alike.