CHAPTER XVII 



THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION 



The Scorpion is an uncommunicative insect, occult in 

 his manners and unpleasant to deal with, so much so that 

 his history, apart from the findings of anatomy, is re- 

 duced to little or nothing. The scalpel of the masters 

 has made us acquainted with his organic structure ; but, 

 so far as I know, no observer has thought of interviewing 

 him, with any sort of persistence, on the subject of his 

 private habits. Ripped up, after a preliminary macera- 

 tion in alcohol, he is very well-known indeed ; acting 

 within the domain of his instincts, he is hardly known at 

 all. And yet none of the segmented animals were more 

 deserving of a detailed biography. He has at all times 

 struck the popular imagination, even to the point of 

 being numbered among the signs of the zodiac. 



Fear made the gods, said Lucretius. Deified by terror, 

 the Scorpion is glorified in the sky by a constellation and 

 in the almanac by the symbol for the month of October. 

 Let us try to make him speak. 



Before housing my animals, let us give a brief descrip- 

 tion of them. The common Black Scorpion (Scorpio Euro- 

 paeus, Lin.), distributed over the greater part of South 

 Europe, is known to all. He frequents the dark spots 

 near our dwelling-places ; on rainy days in autumn, he 

 makes his way into our houses, sometimes even under 



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