PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE 



male is restless; the gnats fail to satisfy him; he leaves, 

 he abandons the home he will perhaps not see again. He 

 is not, indeed, without misgivings, and fear is mingled 

 with his desire, for the mistress he seeks is an ogress. 

 Thus he prepares a way of retreat in case of combat; 

 he stretches a thread from the female's web to a neigh- 

 bouring branch, road of entry, gate of exit. Often, the 

 instant he shows himself with his excited air, the female 

 epirus leaps on him and eats him without formality. Is 

 it ferocity? No, stupidity. She also is awaiting the male, 

 but her attention is distraught between the coming of the 

 caller and the coming of prey. The web has shaken, she 

 leaps, enlaces, devours. Perhaps a second male if he 

 attempt the pass, will be gladly received, the first sacri- 

 fice accomplished, perhaps this mistake, if it is one, will 

 wake all the amorous attention of the distracted female? 

 Ferocity, stupidity; there is another explanation which 

 I will give later, apropos the mantis and the green grass- 

 hopper: it is very probable that the sacrifice of the male, 

 or of a male, is absolutely necessary, and that it is a 

 sexual rite. The little male approaches; if he is recog- 

 nized, and if his coming coincides with the genital state 

 of the female, she merely behaves like all the rest of her 

 peers, and even though she be the larger and stronger, 

 she flees; she lets herself, full of coquetry, slide down a 

 thread; the male imitates the play, he descends, she 

 mounts, he mounts, the acquaintance is made, they feel 

 each other, they pat each other, the male fills his pump, 

 the mating is accomplished. She is rapid, the male stays 

 on guard, ready to flee at the least movement of his 

 adversary; often he hasn't time. Scarcely has the fecun- 

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