If it were a matter of an ordinary fight, a conflict such as might arise in the struggle for life, the creature attacked would obviously retaliate, since he is perfectly well able to do so; in an ordinary conflict he would meet force by force, and return bite for bite.  His strength would enable him to come well out of a struggle, but the foolish creature allows himself to be devoured without retaliating.  It seems as though an invincible repugnance prevents him from offering resistance and in turn devouring the devourer.  This tolerance reminds one of the scorpion of Languedoc, which on the termination of the hymeneal rites allows the female to devour him without attempting to employ his weapon, the venomous dagger which would form a formidable defence; it reminds us also of the male of the Praying Mantis, which still embraces the female though reduced to a headless trunk, while the latter devours him by small mouthfuls, with no rebellion or defence on his part.  There are other examples of hymeneal rites to which the male offers no resistance.

The males of my menagerie of Gardeners, one and all eviscerated, speak of similar customs.  They are the victims of the females when the latter have no further use for them.  For four months, from April to August, the insects pair off continually; sometimes tentatively, but usually the mating is effective.  The business of mating is all but endless for these fiery spirits.

The Gardener is prompt and businesslike in his affairs of the heart.  In the midst of the crowd, with no preliminary courtship, the male throws himself upon the female.  The female thus embraced raises her head a trifle as a sign of acquiescence, while the cavalier beats the back of her neck with his antennae.  The embrace is brief, and they abruptly separate; after a little refreshment the two parties are ready for other adventures, and yet others, so long as there are males available.  After the feast, a brief and primitive wooing; after the wooing, the feast; in such delights the life of the Gardener passes.

The females of my collection were in no proper ratio to the number of aspiring lovers; there were five females to twenty males.  No matter; there was no rivalry, no hustling; all went peacefully and sooner or later each was satisfied.

I should have preferred a better proportioned assembly.  Chance, not choice, had given me that at my disposal.  In the early spring I had collected all the Gardeners I could find under the stones of the neighbourhood, without distinguishing the sexes, for they are not easy to recognise merely by external characteristics.  Later on I learned by watching them that a slight excess of size was the distinctive sign of the female.  My menagerie, so ill-proportioned in the matter of sex, was therefore the result of chance.  I do not suppose this preponderance of males exists in natural conditions.  On the other hand, one never sees such numerous groups at liberty, in the shelter