(O men of little sense; who seek;
Scalpel in hand; to make Death tell
The virtue of the bee; the secret of her cell!) (8/23。)
CHAPTER 9。 EVOLUTION OR 〃TRANSFORMISM。〃
〃How did a miserable grub acquire its marvellous knowledge? Are its habits;
its aptitudes; and its industries the integration of the infinitely little;
acquired by successive experiences on the limitless path of time?〃
It is in these words that Fabre presents the problem of evolution。
Difficult though it may be to follow the sequence of forms which have
endlessly succeeded and replaced one another on the face of the earth;
since the beginning of the world; it is certain that all living creatures
are closely related; and the magnificent and fertile hypothesis of
evolution; which seeks to explain how extant forms are derived from
extinct; has the immense advantage of giving a plausible reason for the
majority of the facts which at least cease to be completely unintelligible。
Otherwise we can certainly never imagine how so many instincts; and these
so complex and perfect; could have issued suddenly 〃from the urn of
hazard。〃
But Fabre will suppose nothing; he will only record the facts。 Instead of
wandering in the region of probabilities; he prefers to confine himself to
the reality; and for the rest to reply simply that 〃we do not know。〃
This stern; positive; rigorous; independent; and observant mind; nourished
upon geometry and the exact sciences; which has never been able to content
itself with approximations and probabilities; could but distrust the
seductions of hypotheses。
His robust common sense; which was always his protection against
precipitate conclusions; too clearly comprehends the limits of science and
the necessity of accumulating facts 〃upon the thorny path of observation
and experiment〃 to indulge in generalization。 He feels that life has
secrets which our minds are powerless to probe; and that 〃human knowledge
will be erased from the archives of the world before we know the last word
concerning the smallest fly。〃
This is why he was regarded as 〃suspect〃 by the company of official
scientists; to whom he was a dissenter; almost a traitor; especially at a
moment when the theories of evolution; then in the first flush of their
novelty; were everywhere the cause of a general elation。
No one as yet was capable of divining the man of the future in this modest
thinker who would not accept the word of the masters interested; but in
opposing the theory of transformation; far from being reactionary; Fabre
revealed himself; at least in the domain of animal psychology; as an
innovator; a true precursor。
Moreover; his observations; always so direct and personal; often revealed
the contrary of what was asserted or foreseen by the magic formulae
suggested by the mind。
To the ingenious mechanism invented by the transformists he preferred to
oppose; not contrary argument; but the naked undeniable fact; the obvious
testimony; the certain and irrefragable example。 〃Is it;〃 he would ask
them; 〃to repulse their enemies that certain caterpillars smear themselves
with a corrosive product? But the larva of the Calosoma sycophanta; which
feeds on the Processional caterpillar of the oak…tree; pays no heed to it;
neither does the Dermestes; which feeds on the entrails of the Processional
caterpillar of the pine…tree。〃
And consider mimicry。 According to the theory of evolution; certain insects
would utilize their resemblance to certain others in order to conceal
themselves; and to introduce themselves into the dwellings of the latter as
parasites living at their expense。 Such would be the case with the
Volucella; a large fly whose costume; striped with brown and yellow bands;
gives it a rude resemblance to the wasp。 Obliged; if not for its own sake
at least for that of its family; to force itself into the wasp's dwelling
as a parasite; it deceitfully dresses itself; we are told; in the livery of
its victim; thus affording the most curious and striking example of
mimicry; and naturalists insufficiently informed would regard it as one of
the greatest triumphs of evolution。
Now what does the Volucella do? It is true that it lays its eggs without
being disturbed in the nest of the wasp。 But; as the rigorous observer will
tell you; it is a precious auxiliary and not an enemy of the community。 Its
grubs; far from disguising or concealing themselves; 〃come and go openly
upon the combs; although every stranger is immediately massacred and thrown
out。〃 Moreover; 〃they watch the hygiene of the city by clearing the nest of
its dead and ridding the larvae of the wasps of their excretory products。〃
Plunging successively into each chamber of the dormitory the forepart of
their bodies; 〃they provoke the emission of that fluid excrement of which
the larvae; owing to their cloistration; contain an extreme reserve。〃 In a
word; the grubs of the Volucella 〃are the nurses of the larvae;〃 performing
the most intimate duties。〃 (9/1。)
What an astonishing conclusion! What a disconcerting and unexpected reply
to the 〃theories in vogue〃!
Fabre; however; with his poetic temperament and ardent imagination; seemed
admirably prepared to grasp all that vast network of relations by which all
creatures are connected; but what proves the solidity of his imperishable
work is that all theories; all doctrines; and all systems may resort to it
in turn and profit by his proofs and arguments。
And he himself; although he boasts with so much reason of putting forward
no pretensions; no theories; no systems; has he not even so yielded
somewhat to the suggestions of the prevailing school of thought; and have
not his verdicts against evolution often been the more excessive in that he
has paid so notable a tribute to the evolutionary progress of creation?
In the first place; he is far from excluding the undeniable influence of
environing causes; the immense role of those myriad external circumstances
on which Lamarck so strongly insisted; but the work of these factors is; in
his eyes; only accessory and wholly secondary in the economy of nature; and
in any case it is far from explaining the definite direction and the
transcendent harmony which characterize evolution; both in its totality and
in its most infinitesimal details。
In one of his admirable little textbooks; intended to teach and to
popularize science; he complacently enumerates the happy modifications
effected by that 〃sublime magician;〃 selection as understood by Darwin。 He
evokes the metamorphoses of the potato; which; on the mountains of Chili;
is merely a wretched venomous tubercle; and those of the cabbage; which on
the rocky face of oceanic precipices is nothing but a weed; 〃with a tall
stem and scanty disordered leaves of a crude green; an acrid savour; and a
rank smell〃; he speaks of wheat; formerly a poor unknown grass; the
primitive pear…tree 〃an ugly intractable thorny bush; with detestable
bitter fruit〃; the wild celery; which grows beside ponds; 〃green all over;
hard; with a repulsive flavour; and which gradually becomes tenderer;
sweeter; whiter;〃 and 〃ceases to distil its poison。〃 (9/2。)
With profound exactitude this great biologist has also perceived the degree
to which size may be modified; may dwindle to dwarfness when a niggardly
soil refuses to furnish beast and plant alike with a sufficient
nourishment。
Without any communication with the other scientists who were occupied by
the same questions; knowing nothing of the results which these
experimenters had attained in the case of small mammiferous animals; and
which prove that dwarfness has often no other cause than physiological
poverty; he confirmed and expanded their ideas from an entomological point
of view。 (9/3。)
Scarcely ever; indeed; was he first inspired by the doings of others in
this or that direction; he read scarcely anything; and nature was his sole
teacher。 He considered that the knowledge to be obtained from books is but
so much vapour compared with the realities; he borrowed only from himself;
and resorted directly to the facts as nature presented them。 One has only
to see his scanty library of odd volumes to be convinced how little he owes
to others; whether writers or workers。
A true naturalist philosopher; this profound observer has also thrown a
light upon certain singular anomalies which; in the insect world; seem to
constitute an exception; at all events in our Europe; to the general rules。
It is not only to the curiosity and for the amusement of entomologists that
he proposes these curious anatomical problems; but also; and chiefly; to
the Darwinian wisdom of the evolutionists。
Why; for example; is the Scarabaeus sacer born and why does it remain
maimed all its life; that is to say; deprived of all the digits on the
anterior limbs?
〃If it is true that every change in the form of an appendage is only the
sign of a habit; a special instinct; or a modification in the conditions of
life; the theory of evolution should endeavour to account for this
mutilation; for these creatures are; like all others; constructed on the
same plan and provided with absolutely the same appendages。〃
The posterior limbs of the Geotrupes stercorarius; 〃perfectly developed in
the adult; are atrophied in the larvae; reduced to mere specks。〃
The general history of the species; of its migrations and its changes; will
doubtless one day throw light upon these strange infirmities; here
temporary and there permanent; which may perhaps be explained by unforeseen
encounters with undiscovered specimens; strayed perhaps into distant
countries。 (9/4。)
What invaluable documents for the entomologist and the historian of the
evolution of the species are those multiple and fabulous metamorphoses of
the Sitares and the Melo?dae which this indefatigable inquirer has revealed
in al
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