30 PLINY'S NATUEAL HISTOET. [Book XI. 



upwards. Apollodorus informs us, that the poison which 

 they secrete is of a white colour, and he has divided them into 

 nine classes, distinguished mostly by their colours — to very 

 little purpose, however, for it is impossible to understand 

 which among these it is that he has pronounced to be the 

 least dangerous. He says, also, that some of them have a 

 double sting, and that the males — for he asserts that they are 

 engendered by the union of the sexes — are the most dangerous. 

 These may easily be known, he says, by their slender form 

 and greater length. He states, also, that they all of them have 

 venom in the middle of the day, when they have been warmed 

 by the heat of the sun, as, also, when they are thirsty — their 

 thirst, indeed, can never be quenched. It is an ascertained 

 fact, that those which have seven joints in the tail are the 

 most 92 deadly ; the greater part, however, have but six. 



For this pest of Africa, the southern winds have provided 

 means of flight as well, for as the breeze bears them along, 

 they extend their arms and ply them like so many oars in 

 their flight ; the same Apollodorus, however, asserts that there 

 are some which really have wings. 93 The Psylli, who for their 

 own profit have been in the habit of importing the poisons of 

 other lands among us, and have thus filled Italy with the pests 

 which belong to other regions, have made attempts to import 

 the flying scorpion as well, but it has been found that it 

 cannot live further north than the latitude of Sicily. How- 

 ever, they 94 are sometimes to be seen in Italy, but are quite 

 harmless there ; they are found, also, in many other places, the 

 vicinity of Pharos, in Egypt, for instance. In Scythia, the 

 scorpion is able to kill the swine even with its sting, an animal 

 which, in general, is proof against poisons of this kind in a 

 remarkable degree. When stung, those swine which are black 

 die more speedily than others, and more particularly if they 

 happen to throw themselves into the water. When a person 

 has been stung, it is generally supposed that he may be cured 

 by drinking the ashes of the scorpion 95 mixed with wine. It 



92 Cuvier seems to regard this as fanciful : he says that the instances of 

 seven joints are but rarely to be met with. 



93 There are no winged scorpions. Cuvier thinks that he may possibly 

 allude to the panorpis, or scorpion-fly, the abdomen of which terminates 

 in a forceps, wbicb resembles the tail of the scorpion. 



94 Probably the panorpis. 



95 See B. xxix. c. 29. 



