THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION 233 



face to face and hand in hand. I shall see no more 

 to-day. 



The next day, nothing new either. One in front of 

 the other, meditatively, without stirring a hmb, the 

 gossips, holding each other by the finger-tips, continue 

 their endless interview under the tile. In the evening, 

 at sunset, after sitting linked together for four-and- 

 twenty hours, the couple separate. He goes away from 

 the tile, she remains ; and matters have not advanced by 

 an inch. 



This observation gives us two facts to remember. 

 After the stroll to celebrate the betrothal, the couple 

 need the mystery and quiet of a shelter. Never would 

 the nuptial conclusion take place in the open air, amid 

 the busthng crowd, in sight of all. Remove the roof of 

 the house, by night or day, with all possible discretion ; 

 and the husband and wife, who seem absorbed in 

 meditation, march off in search of another spot. Also, 

 the stay under the cover of a stone is a long one : we 

 have just seen it spun out to twenty-four hours and 

 even then without a decisive result. 



12 May. — What will this evening's watch teach us ? 

 The weather is calm and hot, favourable to nocturnal 

 pastimes. A couple has formed : I did not witness the 

 start. This time the male is greatly inferior in size to 

 his corpulent mate. Nevertheless, the skinny wight per- 

 forms his duty gallantly. Walking backwards, according 

 to rule, wdth his tail rolled trumpetwise, he marches the 

 fat Scorpioness around the glass ramparts. After one 

 circuit follows another, sometimes in the same, sometimes 

 in the opposite direction. 



Stops are frequent. Then the two foreheads touch, 

 bend a little to left and right, as if there were whispers 



30 



