Who knew scorpions were so polite?

     Actually, I have this hazy memory of seeing some nature documentary several decades ago which showed the elaborate courtship rituals scorpions have to go through in order to mate without the partners killing each other, so I guess it's that old saw about an armed society being a polite society.

     Oh, and this page is an example of the ancient literary device known as the scorpio ex machina, first used, to the best of my knowledge, in the 3rd century B.C. Hellenistic Greek epic, the Batrachomuomachia. Though I think it's crabs there instead of scorpions. Still, when the scorpions start showing up, that means the story's getting on toward the end--Bert's here is going to page 610, by the way.