PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE 



sexes of flesh also flower. Birds, fish take on new and 

 more vivid colours. There are songs, plays, pilgrimages. 

 Salmon who live quietly at the river-mouths, must gather, 

 depart, climb the streams, pass weirs, scrabble against 

 rocks which form the dams and cataracts, wear themselves 

 out leaping as arrows against all human and natural 

 obstacles. Males and females arrive worn out at the 

 end of their journey, the jray&re of fine sand where they 

 are to lay their eggs, and the males heroically to spend 

 the milt distilled from their blood. 



Spring is not the only rutting season. Love's calendar 

 covers the year. In winter, wolves and foxes; in spring, 

 the birds and fish; in summer, insects and many mam- 

 mals; in autumn the deer. Winter is often the season 

 chosen by polar animals; the sable couples in January; 

 the ermine in March; the glutton, at the beginning and 

 end of winter. Domestic animals have often several sea- 

 sons; for the dog, cat and house-birds, spring and 

 autumn. One finds young otters at any time. Most 

 insects die after mating; but not all hemiptera, nor the 

 queen bee, nor certain coleoptera, nor certain flies. The 

 stag and the stallion empty themselves, but not the ram, 

 nor the bull nor the he-goat. The duration of pregnancy 

 in placentaires seems to have some relation to the size 

 of the animal; mare, eleven to twelve months; ass, twelve 

 months and a half; cow, doe, nine months; sheep, goat, 

 wolf, vixen, five months; sow, four months; bitch, two 

 months; cat, six weeks; rabbit, one month. 



There are oddities: fecundated in August, the roe is not 

 delivered until seven and a half months later, the embryo 

 remaining a long time stationary, and waiting for the 

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