le to reach the Frog, dug under the
stick and, having caused it to fall, buried it as well as the
body."[7]

[Footnote 6: Johann Gottlieb Gleditsch (1714-1786), the German
botanist.--_Translator's Note_.]

[Footnote 7: _Suites a Buffon. Introduction a l'entomologie_, vol.
ii., pp. 460-61.--_Author's Note_.]

To grant, in the intellect of the insect, a lucid understanding of the
relations between cause and effect, between the end and the means, is
to make a statement of serious import. I know of scarcely any more
suited to the philosophical brutalities of my time. But are these two
anecdotes really true? Do they involve the consequences deduced from
them? Are not those who accept them as sound evidence just a little
too simple?

To be sure, simplicity is needed in entomology. Without a good dose of
this quality, a mental defect in the eyes of practical folk, who would
busy himself with the lesser creatures? Yes, let us be simple, without
being childishly credulous. Before making insects reason, let us
reason a little ourselves; let us, above all, consult the experimental
test. A fact gathered at random, without criticism, cannot establish a
law.

I do not propose, O valiant grave-diggers, to depreciate your merits;
such is far from being my intention. I have that in my notes, on the
other hand, which will do you more honour than the story of the gibbet
and the Frog; I have gleaned, for your benefit, examples of prowess
which will shed a new lustre upon your reputation.

No, my intention is not to belittle your renown. Besides, it is not
the business of impartial history to maintain a given thesis; it
follows facts. I wish simply to question you upon the power of logic
attributed to you. Do you or do you not enjoy gleams of reason? Have
you within you the humble germ of human thought? That is the problem
before us.

To solve it we will not rely upon the accidents which good fortune may
now and again procure for us. We must employ the breeding-cage, which
will permit of assiduous visits, continuous enquiry and a variety of
artifices. But how to stock the cage? The land of the olive-tree is
not rich in Necrophori. To my knowledge it possesses only a single
species, _N. vestigator_, HERSCH.; and even this rival of the
grave-diggers of the north is pretty scarce. The discovery of three or
four in the spring was as much as my hunting-expeditions yielded in
the old days. This time, if I do not resort to the ruses of