THE LANGUEDOCIAN SCORPION 229 



staff. In their society, this friendly thump, in which 

 the point of the sting plays no part, is a sort of a fisticuff 

 in frequent use. 



There are better things than mingled legs and bran- 

 dished tails : there are sometimes poses of the highest 

 originality. Front to front and claws drawn back, two 

 wrestlers assume the acrobat's " straight bend," that is 

 to say, resting only on the fore-quarters, they raise the 

 whole back of the body, so much so that the chest dis- 

 plays the four little lung-sacs uncovered. Then the tails, 

 held vertically erect in a straight line, exchange mutual 

 rubs, glide one over the other, while their extremities 

 are hooked together and repeatedly fastened and un- 

 fastened. Suddenly, the friendly pyramid falls to pieces 

 and each runs off hurriedly, without ceremony. 



What were those two wrestlers trying to do, in their 

 eccentric posture ? Was it a set-to between two rivals ? 

 It would seem not, so peaceful is the encounter. My 

 subsequent observations were to tell me that this was 

 the mutual teasing of a betrothed couple. To declare 

 his flame, the Scorpion does the straight bend. 



To continue as I have begun and give a homogeneous 

 picture of the thousand tiny particulars gathered day by 

 day would have its advantages : the story would be 

 sooner told ; but, at the same time, deprived of its details, 

 which vary greatly between one observation and the 

 next and are difficult to group, it would be less interesting. 

 Nothing must be neglected in the relation of manners so 

 strange and as yet so little known. At the risk of repeat- 

 ing one's self here and there, it is preferable to adhere 

 to chronological order and to tell the story by fragments, 

 as one's observations reveal fresh facts. Order will 

 emerge from this disorder ; for each of the more remark- 



