The Life of the Spider 



his arms crossed and quivering, he remains 

 long in ecstasy. The newly-wedded Osmiae 

 clap their mandibles terribly, as though it 

 were a matter rather of devouring each 

 other; on the other hand, the largest of our 

 moths, the Great Peacock, who is the size of 

 a bat, when drunk with love finds his mouth 

 so completely atrophied that it becomes no 

 more than a vague shadow. But nothing 

 equals the marriage of the Green Grasshop- 

 per, of which I cannot speak here, for it is 

 doubtful whether even the Latin language 

 possesses the words needed to describe it as 

 it should be described. 



All said, the marriage customs are dread- 

 ful and, contrary to that which happens in 

 every other world, here it is the female of 

 the pair that stands for strength and intelli- 

 gence and also for cruelty and tyranny, which 

 appear to be their inevitable consequence. 

 Almost every wedding ends in the violent 

 and immediate death of the husband. Often, 

 the bride begins by eating a certain number 

 of suitors. The archetype of these fantastic 

 unions could be supplied by the Languedo- 

 cian Scorpions, who, as we know, carry 

 lobster-claws and a long tail supplied with a 



28 



