The Narbonne Lycosa 



about. Uneasy as to what is happening 

 above, the recluse hastens to climb up and 

 stops, in a threatening attitude, at some dis- 

 tance from the orifice. You see her eight 

 eyes gleaming like diamonds in the dark; you 

 see her powerful poison-fangs yawning, ready 

 to bite. He who is not accustomed to the 

 sight of this horror, rising from under the 

 ground, cannot suppress a shiver. B-r-r-r-rl 

 Let us leave the beast alone. 



Chance, a poor stand-by, sometimes con- 

 trives very well. At the beginning of the 

 month of August, the children call me to the 

 far side of the enclosure, rejoicing in a find 

 which they have made under the rosemary 

 bushes. It is a magnificent Lycosa, with an 

 enormous belly, the sign of an impending 

 delivery. 



The obese Spider is gravely devouring 

 something in the midst of a circle of on- 

 lookers. And what? The remains of a 

 Lycosa a little smaller than herself, the re- 

 mains of her male. It is the end of the 

 tragedy that concludes the nuptials. The 

 sweetheart is eating her lover. I allow the 

 matrimonial rites to be fulfilled in all their 

 horror; and, when the last morsel of the un- 



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