The Life of the Fly

I paid a visit to my local antiques centre recently and as usual I spent most of my time browsing the section devoted to secondhand books. One particular volume caught my eye, it was entitled The Life of the Fly by Jean-Henri Fabre, a first edition of the English translation from the original French. The book contains descriptions of the life cycles of various species of fly along with recollections from the life of the author

I opened the book and was hooked after reading the first sentence;

"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."

Jean-Henri Fabre was born in Leon's, Averyron, France on 22st December 1823. His family was quite poor but he was motivated to self educate himself, and he was awarded with a primary teaching certificate at the age of 19. Although hecwas well versed in physics, chemistry and botany he is best known for his works on etymology, he published many works during his lifetime,. As well as The book I purchased on the life of the Fly, he also wrote about the life cycles of the spider, the scorpion and other insects.

Fabre died on 11th October 1915.