1H2 SCORPIONS AND ALLIED ANNl'LATEI) SPIDERS OF THE ANGLO-EGYPTIAN SUDAN 



quantity of tin; pure poison, and sucl; experiments witli the large scorpion of North- 

 West Africa, lliithKS (Pn'ounnis) australif: L., showed that already 0-1 mgm. of its poison 

 was sufficient to cause the death of a guinea-pig of 500 to 600 grammes within 7^ 

 hours, while a dog of 15 to 20 kilogrammes died within 10 hours after having received 

 1-15 grammes of the poison. Insects and sjjiders, the regular food of scorpions, proved 

 especially susceptible to the scorpion's poison ; on the other hand, frogs proved to be 

 rather insensible to it, and, still more, fishes and molluscs. The virulence of the scorpion's 

 poison diminishes after repeated stinging, the animal becoming exhausted ; and there is 

 no doubt that the poisons of different species of scorpions possess very different degrees 

 of potency. 

 Symptoms of The symptoms of scorpion-sting may be described as follows : violent local pains 



scorpion-stmg combined with inflammation and local swelling, extension of the pain to the neigh- 

 bouring parts of the body, sleeplessness and a feeling of cold. The pain disappears after one 

 to three days. The writer, who was stung by the yellow scorpion of Asia Minor {IJitthiiii 

 i/ihhiiytt!:, BruUe) near Ephesus at about 7 a.m., had violent pains in the wounded finger 

 and inflammation, but no swelling. Large vesicles appeared on the skin of the finger, 

 which remained irritable for several hours, but at noon no pain whatever remained 

 although no remedy was employed. 



The greatest number of well authenticated fatal results from scorpion-sting comes 

 from North Africa ; other cases have been reported from the West Indies, Mexico and 

 South Africa ; on the other hand, in some countries inhabited by many scorpions, cases 

 of lethal scorpion-sting are quite unknown. 



The references to scorpion poison quoted above are taken from Prof. F. Dahl's 

 essay in the NatnrwissenscJiaftliche Wochenschrift , XIX. No. 7, 1903, p. 97-99.' 



I have thought it unnecessary to give elaborate descriptions of the Sudanese species 

 of scorpions. The literary references given will enable students to make themselves fully 

 acquainted with the species shortly described here. 



As, however, the characters selected to distinguish them are such as can be easily 

 recognised with the naked eye or with a good pocket lens, and are, moreover, constant, 

 I am convinced that these descriptions are sufficient for the recognition of all the species 

 hitherto obtained in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Naturally, this applies only to the present 

 state of our knowledge, as probably more species will be discovered, especially in the vast 

 territories of the southern Sudan. Still, in any case, they will remain useful for the 

 identification of the commoner and larger, and therefore, doubtless, more dangerous species. 



For an introduction to the study of scorpions, I refer the reader to the work of 

 K. Kraepelin, " Scorpiones und Pedipalpi," in Das Tierreich, Berlin VIII., 1899, and for 

 Works of special references to the Sudanese Fauna, to A. Birula's paper on the Scorpiones and 



SolifugSB collected by myself in the Winter of 1905 {Sifziin/iKherichfe tier Kniscrliclipn 

 Akademie der Wisseiischaften in Wien, CXVII., 1908). All necessary literature is 

 quoted in these two publications. Interesting new forms have been described since this 

 paper was written, by Mr. S. Hirst in AiniaJs ami Maijaziiic uf Xati-.nil Hhtonj, Sei'ies 8, 

 Vol. VII., February, 1911. 



The two main divisions of scorpions represented in the Sudan are easily distinguished 

 by their external characters. In the IhitJiidiv, the sternum is triangular and tlie liamh 

 of the maxillary palps are more or less elongate. In the Snayianid.v the sternum is 

 pentagonal and the handg are very broad in such members of this family as have been 



'■ For further information see references given under " Scorpion Sting " in the Ileviciv Supplrtiintls to the 

 Third niid Fimrtli Reports of these Laboratories.— A. B. 



reference 



