Suicide or Hypnosis? 



back, the two harassed creatures decide on 

 mortal combat. Each no doubt attributes 

 to the other the annoyances of which I 

 myself am the cause. The claws, those 

 weapons of defence, are displayed in a semi- 

 circle and open to keep the adversary at a 

 distance; the tails, in sudden jerks, are flung 

 forward above the back; the poison-phials 

 clash together; a tiny drop, limpid as water, 

 beads the point of the sting. 



The fight does not last long. One of the 

 Scorpions receives the full force of the other's 

 poisoned weapon. It is all over: in a few 

 minutes the wounded one succumbs. The 

 victor very calmly proceeds to gnaw the fore- 

 part of the victim's cephalothorax, or, in 

 less crabbed terms, the bit at which we look 

 for a head and find only the entrance to a 

 belly. The mouthfuls are small, but long- 

 drawn-out. For four or five days, almost 

 without a break, the cannibal nibbles at his 

 murdered comrade. To eat the vanquished, 

 that's good warfare, the only sort excusable. 

 What I do not understand, nor shall until we 

 tin the meat on the battle-field for food, is 

 our wars between nations. 



We now have authentic information: the 

 Scorpion's sting is fatal, promptly fatal, to the 

 Scorpion himself. Let us come to the mat- 

 405 



