SCORPIONS 57 



marked longitudinally with raised lines made of black 

 dots. These Barbary scorpions hold the tail up and 

 arched over the back not only when in a crouching posture 

 but also when they walk. This seems to be a common 

 trait of all the other kinds. Hence Tertullian writes in 

 the " Scorpiacus " : 



** Arcuato impetu insurgens hamatile spiculum in sum- 

 mo, tormenti ratione, restringens ;" and Ovid in Book 

 fourth of the " Fasti " : " Scorpius elatae metuendus 

 acumine caudse." 



There is a great dispute among writers whether the 

 point of the sting has any aperture from which a drop of 

 venomous liquid might issue when the scorpion wounds ; 

 and indeed the point is so polished and fine, that it is 

 impossible for the eye to discover if it be really pierced. 



Galen said that there is no hole or aperture of any 

 kind. On the other hand, Pliny, Tertullian, St. Jerome, 

 Aldrovandi, and many moderns have held that the 

 scorpion not only pierces with the point of his needle, 

 but also pours a liquid venom out of it into the wound 

 thus caused. And Master Domenico Bandino of Arezzo, 

 famous in his time as a writer of many ponderous works, 

 some of which I have in manuscript in my library, as- 

 serted that the venom from the scorpion's needle is a 

 thin white fluid. The poets say, on the contrary, that 

 it is black : . . . " nigrumque gerens in acumine 

 virus ;" sang one of them. In order to be clear as to the 

 truth, I selected from a great number of microscopes, 

 belonging to His Serene Highness, the Prince of Tus- 

 cany, two of the finest, one of Roman and the other of 

 English workmanship, with the aid of which I in vain 

 attempted to discover the opening in the spear end of the 

 sting of the Tunisian, Egyptian, and Italian scorpions; 



