More Hunting Wasps

Abstract

THROUGH the energies of the late Alexander de Mattos a number of Fabre's most interesting studies in insect-life have been rendered accessible to the general reader in this country. The present volume consists of fourteen chapters, which complete the essays in the “Souvenirs Entomologiques” devoted to wasps. The remainder have already been translated in two earlier volumes entitled “The Hunting Wasps” and “The Mason Wasps.” Two of the essays in this book, which form chaps. 2 and 10, have already appeared in previous translations, while the remainder are rendered in English for the first time. Most admirers of the writings of the French savant will welcome the appearance of this book and revel in the fascinating stories of insect behaviour that are recorded in its pages. Fabre is admittedly a difficult writer to translate, and the charm of his diction only too readily escapes if too much freedom be exercised. Mr. de Mattos's task, therefore, has not been an easy one, but he has carried it out conscientiously and with evident care for accuracy.

More Hunting Wasps.

J. H.

Fabre

By. Translated by A. T. de Mattos. Pp. viii + 376. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., n.d.) 8s. 6d. net.