wanted to know more than I had learnt from the schoolboys, which was
just how to rob the cells of their honey with a straw. As it happened,
my bookseller had a gorgeous work on insects for sale. It was called
"Histoire naturelle des animaux articules", by de Castelnau (Francis
Comte de Castelnau de la Porte (1812-1880), the naturalist and
traveller. Castelnau was born in London and died at Melbourne.--
Translator's Note.), E. Blanchard (Emile Blanchard (born 1820), author
of various works on insects, Spiders, etc.--Translator's Note.) and
Lucas (Pierre Hippolyte Lucas (born 1815), author of works on Moths
and Butterflies, Crustaceans, etc.--Translator's Note.), and boasted a
multitude of most attractive illustrations; but the price of it, the
price of it! No matter: was not my splendid income supposed to cover
everything, food for the mind as well as food for the body? Anything
extra that I gave to the one I could save upon the other; a method of
balancing painfully familiar to those who look to science for their
livelihood. The purchase was effected. That day my professional
emoluments were severely strained: I devoted a month's salary to the
acquisition of the book. I had to resort to miracles of economy for
some time to come before making up the enormous deficit.

The book was devoured; there is no other word for it. In it, I learnt
the name of my black Bee; I read for the first time various details of
the habits of insects; I found, surrounded in my eyes with a sort of
halo, the revered names of Reaumur, Huber (Francois Huber (1750-1831),
the Swiss naturalist, author of "Nouvelles observations sur les
abeilles." He early became blind from excessive study and conducted
his scientific work thereafter with the aid of his wife.--Translator's
Note.) and Leon Dufour (Jean Marie Leon Dufour (1780-1865), an army
surgeon who served with distinction in several campaigns, and
subsequently practised as a doctor in the Landes, where he attained