THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION 239 



gymnastic drill, the mechanism contracts and remains 

 stationary. 



The foreheads now touch ; the two mouths come 

 together with tender effusions. The word " kisses " 

 comes to one's mind to express these caresses. It is not 

 applicable ; for head, face, lips, cheeks, all are missing. 

 The animal, clipped as though with the pruning shears, 

 has not even a muzzle. Where we look for a face we are 

 confronted with a dead wall of hideous jaws. 



And to the Scorpion this represents the supremely 

 beautiful ! With his fore-legs, more delicate, more agile 

 than the others, he pats the horrible mask, which in his 

 eyes is an exquisite little face ; voluptuously he gnaws 

 and tickles with his lower jaws the equally hideous mouth 

 opposite. It is all superb in its tenderness and simplicity. 

 The Dove is said to have invented the kiss. But I know 

 that he had a fore-runner in the Scorpion. 



Dulcinea lets her admirer have his way and remains pas- 

 sive, not without a secret longing to slip off. But how is 

 she to set about it ? It is quite easy. The Scorpioness 

 makes a cudgel of her tail and brings it down with a 

 bang upon the \^Tists of her too-ardent wooer, who there 

 and then lets go. The match is broken off, for the time 

 being. To-morrow, the sulking-fit will be over and 

 things will resume their course. 



25 May. — This blow of the cudgel teaches us that the 

 docile companion revealed by the first observations is 

 capable of whims, of obstinate refusals, of sudden 

 divorces. Let us give an example. 



This evening, he and she, a seemly couple, are out for 

 a stroll. A tile is found and appears to suit. Letting 

 go with one claw, so as to have some freedom of action, 

 the male works with his legs and tail to clear the entrance. 



