When the author calls scorpions “pleasant, unassuming creatures with, on the whole, the most charming habits,” She was joking. This tells me that the author's tone is light and ironic.
Gerald Durrell, at the outset of his essay, describes the scorpions as “pleasant, unassuming creatures with the most charming habits."
This was only a joke because the further details she provides about the scorpion were not those of a pleasant and charming creature.
This is seen in this quote; "I found one of them eating another, a habit I found most distressing in a creature otherwise so impeccable."
The author's tone is light and ironic because she apparently meant the opposite of what she said. She was also playful in her use of words.
Conclusively, the author was joking in her description of the scorpion and her tone was light and ironic.
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