606 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



"Dey don't bite at all! Dey jes' strike you with de tail, and 

 dey's a pizen juice comes out, and den no doctor kain't save you ! " 



Newspaper stories confirming this belief occasionally go the 

 rounds. I remember reading one particularly circumstantial account 

 of the mishaps of a camping party somewhere in south Florida. 

 " They were a long way," said this veracious chronicler, " from any 

 human habitation, and the loss of their one mule from the bite of 

 this pestiferous scorpion brought with it no end of inconvenience and 

 trouble." 



The distressing story was told with great detail, and it was cer- 

 tainly not calculated to diminish the popular dread with which this 

 supposed venomous creature is regarded. Even in scientific journals 

 we find an occasional echo of this general belief. Dr. Packard, too, 

 certainly good authority, in his Study of Insects accepts the current 

 theory. 



In the Proceedings of the Washington (D. C.) Entomological 

 Society there is an interesting discussion of this very question (vol. ii, 

 No. 2). Professor Howard stated that a case of the bite of the 

 Thelyphonus with fatal results was vouched for by a Mr. Dunn, a 

 professed naturalist, and that his testimony was entitled to weight. 

 Mr. Ashmead and Mr. Banks, both of whom had been familiar with 

 the Thelyphonus in Florida, had handled them frequently, and be- 

 lieved them harmless. Dr. George Marx confirmed this view by 

 stating that dissection failed to show the presence of any poison sac 

 or fangs, a statement which it seems has been confirmed by subse- 

 quent investigations. 



Altogether here was a " muddle " of conflicting testimony, which 

 could only be accounted for by supjDosing " some one had blundered." 



A few months since, for my own satisfaction, I determined to 

 make a special study of our Florida " grampus." Not the least 

 curious question that first suggests itself is how this name, " gram- 

 pus " (French, Grand poisson, great fish), one of the Cetacece, ever 

 got tacked on as a popular label for our Florida Thelyphonus. I am 

 utterly at a loss to account for it. 



Before catching " my bird " I, of course, had to make a cage for 

 it. This was constructed out of a large cigar box. About half of 

 one end was removed and replaced by wire gauze. In addition to 

 the hinged wooden cover, with which the box was furnished, I ar- 

 ranged a second one of wire gauze, hinged on the opposite side, and 

 closing underneath the wooden one. This gave full control of light 

 and air, both by day and night, without disturbing my future pris- 

 oner, and at the same time diminished the danger of his escape. 



I knew very well that the scorpion I was after was of a very 

 modest and retiring disposition, and was never seen above ground in 



