HÉBERT. Autograph letter to "my dear friend" [Huvier]. 6 pp. - Lot 73

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Lot n° 73
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HÉBERT. Autograph letter to "my dear friend" [Huvier]. 6 pp. - Lot 73
HÉBERT. Autograph letter to "my dear friend" [Huvier]. 6 pp. in-4. February 7, 1778. Superb letter on spiders, in reply to the previous one, in which he describes his observations and classification. "I have begun my work on spiders, which I divide into five classes. 1° domestic spiders 5 species". Each spider class is divided into several species. He thus draws up a complete list, with his observations. "None of these spiders, with the possible exception of the scolopendre spider, tend nets. They see very clearly, spy on their prey and pounce on it. I am certain that the scolopendre spider sees clearly, especially at night, and this is what leads me to believe that it does not spin; all those that set nets have always seemed to me to use only the sense of touch [...]. Once in my life, I came across two enormous and even frightening ones, one of which was running on the ground in a field where wheat had been harvested, and was the shape and size of a cricket. The other, even more enormous, resembled a domestic spider, running lightly over the surface of a pond. Its belly was bigger than a peach pit, yet it ran over the water without forming ripples. Whether it was a constant species or a monstrous variety, I cannot say. But it was very astonishing. I'll describe it. To answer your question about scorpions, the true scorpion is found only in the southern provinces, and there is no other kind except a very small black scorpion [...]. There are no cicadas in our temperate provinces, but various flies of the same kind. Mr de Réaumur has written a voluminous and tedious history of them, as is his wont. Finally, to give a word for your fly which lived without a head, Mr de Buffon separated the belly of a wasp from the rest of the body, the lower part continued to throw its sting, and the upper part ate jams without bothering who would digest them [...]".
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