PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE 



she retreated into the carcass, and after a short dispute 

 she made him understand that the time was not yet ripe, 

 and sent him off. After which the groans recommenced; 

 the female seemed annoyed; she mounted the cage of 

 bone, swelling her wings, lifting her tail, cooing. The 

 union finally took place in a great commotion of ruffled 

 feathers and shaken bones. 



The same author has precisely noted the complicated 

 preludes indulged in by two sparrows. I give the resume, 

 graphically: A troop of sparrows on the roof in the 

 morning; calm, they make their toilet. Arrives a large 

 male who emits a violent cry; one of the females replies 

 at once, not by a cry but by an act : she leaves the group. 

 The male joins her, she flies to a neighbouring roof ; there 

 follows a long chatter beak to beak. New flight; the 

 male rests in the sun, then rejoins the minx. The as- 

 saults begin, the male is repulsed. The female moves 

 off, in little hops. The edge of the roof stops the flight, 

 she profits by this excuse and surrenders. 



But it is the prodigious insect whom one must inter- 

 rogate. One knows the cantharides, these beautiful cole- 

 optera on whom pharmacy has inflicted so wicked a repu- 

 tation. The female gnaws her oak leaf, the male arrives, 

 mounts her back, enlaces her with his hind feet. Then 

 with his stretched abdomen he flagellates the female alter- 

 nately to right and left with frantic speed. At the same 

 time he massages her, lashes her neck furiously with his 

 front feet, all his body shakes and vibrates. The female 

 remains passive, awaiting the calm. It comes. Without 

 letting go the male stretches out his forelegs in a cross, 

 unbends a little, wagging from head and corselet. The 

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