Note 7 — Chapter XX · FABRE’S WRITINGS (CONTINUED)

“It proceeds from the less essential to the more essential, in order to preserve a remnant of life to the very last. In the first place it absorbs the blood which issues from the wound which it has made in the skin; then it proceeds to the fatty matter enveloping the internal organs; then the muscular layer lining the skin; and then, in the last place, the essential organs and the nerve-centres.”7 “We thus have the spectacle of an insect which is eaten alive, morsel by morsel, during a period of nearly a fortnight, becoming empty and emaciated and collapsing upon itself,” while preserving its succulence and moisture to the end.