SCORPIONS. 225 



by Mr. Hutchinson, viz., that the 'popular idea regarding 

 scorpionic suicide is a delusion based on an impossibility,' is 

 wholly untenable ; indeed, the recurved direction of the sting, 

 which he refers to as creating the impossibility of the animal 

 destroying itself, actually facilitates the operation of inflicting 

 the wound. I suppose Mr. Hutchinson, arguing from the ana- 

 logy of bees or wasps, imagined that the sting would be bent 

 forwards upon the body, whereas the wound of the scorpion is 

 invariably inflicted by a recurvation of the tail over the back of 

 the animal. 



It will be perceived that these observations were not 

 made by Dr. Allen Thomson himself, and that there are 

 certain inherent discrepancies in the account which he 

 has published such, for instance, as the reason given for 

 trying and repeating the experiment, the method being 

 clearly a cumbersome one to employ if the only object 

 were that of 'disposing of the animals. Nevertheless, 

 as Dr. Thomson is a high authority, and as I learn from 

 him that he is satisfied regarding the capability and vera- 

 city of his informant, I have not felt justified in suppress- 

 ing his evidence. Still I think that so remarkable a fact 

 unquestionably demands further corroboration before we 

 should be justified in accepting it unreservedly. For if it 

 is a fact, it stands as a unique case of an instinct 

 detrimental alike to the individual and to the species. 



