The Mason-Bees

by Jean-Henri Fabre

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326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 16, 2012

About the author

Fabre was born in Saint-Léons in Aveyron, France. Fabre was largely an autodidact, owing to the poverty of his family. Nevertheless, he acquired a primary teaching certificate at the young age of 19 and began teaching at the college of Ajaccio, Corsica, called Carpentras. In 1852, he taught at the lycée in Avignon.

Fabre went on to accomplish many scholarly achievements. He was a popular teacher, physicist, chemist and botanist. However, he is probably best known for his findings in the field of entomology, the study of insects, and is considered by many to be the father of modern entomology. Much of his enduring popularity is due to his marvelous teaching ability and his manner of writing about the lives of insects in biographical form, which he preferred to a clinically detached, journalistic mode of recording. In doing so he combined what he called "my passion for scientific truth" with keen observations and an engaging, colloquial style of writing. Fabre noted: Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools. They fear lest a page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression of the truth. Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only on condition of being obscure.

Over the years he wrote a series of texts on insects and arachnids that are collectively known as the Souvenirs Entomologiques. Fabre's influence is felt in the later works of fellow naturalist Charles Darwin, who called Fabre "an inimitable observer". Fabre, however, rejected Darwin's theory of evolution; on the other hand he was not a Biblical creationist either but assumed a saltationist origin of biodiversity.

In one of Fabre's most famous experiments, he arranged processionary caterpillars to form a continuous loop around the edge of a pot. As each caterpillar instinctively followed the silken trail of the caterpillars in front of it, the group moved around in a circle for seven days.

Jean-Henri Fabre's last home and office, the Harmas de Fabre in Provence stands today as a museum devoted to his life and works.

The site of his birth, at St Léons, near Millau is now the site of Micropolis, a tourist attraction dedicated to popularising entomology and a museum on his life.

Reviews

[Rossdavidh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, what can I say about this book that I have not said in one of my previous reviews of his other books? What's that you say? You have no interest in those species among the Chalicodoma (a subgenus of bees) which happen to be frequently found in pebbly areas? Irrelevant; Fabre has enough interest for both of us, and enough narrative skill to infect his audience with a fascination in the lives of his diminutive protagonists.

There are usually several characters in any of Fabre's books, ably translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos:

1) the arthropod (insect or spider or scorpion) in the title

2) Fabre himself, ever willing to share with us not only how he successfully observed them, but also his failures, and emotional ups and downs as he stalks his prey

3) Fabre's family, often roped into helping in one way or another

4) the rural area in France in the late 19th century where he carried out his researches, often bemused by the spectacle of an eccentric entomologist in their midst

All of them are here, all of them are worth reading about, all of them I will miss now that this is the last of Fabre's works for me to read.

[Aria Maher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Jean-Henri Fabre's other insect books, The Mason-Bees explores, in minute detail, the life of a very interesting creature. Written from the author's direct observation and experimentation, this book provides a unique and first hand account of the habits of the mason bee. In my opinion, Fabre spends a little too long talking about various parasites which prey on the bees, but otherwise this is a thoroughly engrossing, interesting read.

[Teja]

A book about Mason bees and the author's experiments on them, which include but are not limited to putting them in a sack, spinning them around his head, taking them five miles away, and then releasing them to see how many find their way home. Full of charmingly strange capitalizations such as the Bee and the Cat, who features in a semi related chapter on the domestic Feline. Also includes correspondence with Charles Darwin, whom the author is disappointed to find to be fallible after all.

[Niles Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting but not the information I was seeking

[Carol Collins]

1926 english translation

[Rick Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The father of modern entomology is back again.

This time he's talking about Mason Bees (Chalicodomae to be precise), and along the way you can of course expect him to tell anecdotes about his family, his pets and the consternation of his rural, Provencal neighbors at his seemingly bizarre experiments.

This book contains a good bit about his relationship and correspondence with Charles Darwin, along with more than his usual amount of snarkiness about Darwin's doctrines and disciples.

Fun for the whole family!

[Avis Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have given Jean-Henri Fabre's books more than one try, but find him dull.