462 SANITARY ENTOMOLOGY 



venom. In the majority of cases when a person is stung by a scorpion, 

 they fail to retain the specimen or to have a scientific identification made 

 so that the records of actual species causing scorpion sting are very 

 small, only twelve species having come to the attention of the writer. 

 The purpose of the scorpion venom is not necessarily as a means of 

 defense, but rather as a method by which it kills its prey, which usually 

 consists of small animals. In man the symptoms depend upon the size 

 and nature of the scorpion. 



The small European scorpion, Isovietrus europaeus Linnaeus, causes 

 only pain, redness, and local swelling. Some of the larger tropical scor- 

 pions cause intense pain of a burning character radiating from the skin, 

 associated often with violent convulsions, mental disturbances and hal- 

 lucinations, profuse perspiration, secretion of saliva, and perhaps vomit- 

 ing. The pulse is weak and quick and the respiration is hurried and 

 shallow. These symptoms gradually diminish in three to eight hours 

 and bv about nineteen to twenty hours the person usually is normal. 

 Deatli may ensue due to collapse or stoppage of respiration which is 

 more apt to happen in children than in adults. Wilson states that the 

 mortality in children under five is 60 per cent for Buthus quinquestriatus 

 H. & E., a species of Upper Egypt and the Sudan. Fatal poisoning is 

 also charged against Buthus viaurus and other North African scorpions. 

 Cararoz has stated that as many as two hundred persons die annually 

 from scorpion sting in the neighborhood of Durango, Mexico. The species 

 which is responsible for this is Centrurus exlicaude Wood. In addition 

 to the species already mentioned, Buthus martensi Karshi of Manchuria; 

 Buthus occitanus Amour of South Europe and North Africa; Buthus afer 

 Leach, Prionurus citrinus, P. amoureuni Savign}^ Androctonns funestus 

 Ehrenberg, and Heterometrus maurus, all of South Africa, have been 

 recorded as causing severe poisoning. Kubota found the Durango scor- 

 pion many times more toxic than the ]Manchurian. Tlie common southern 

 species in the United States, Buthus carolinianus Beauvois, which ranges 

 from the Southern Atlantic States into Texas, north into Kansas, inflicts 

 a very severe sting which hurts for many hours. 



Castellani and Chalmers recommend as treatment for scorpion sting 

 the application of a proximal ligature and incision and treatment of the 

 wound with permanganate of potash in the same manner as used for 

 snake bite. C. V. Riley in 1887 recommended the use of ammonia applied 

 over the sting, or a small dose of ipecacuanha. Simpson recommends 

 the local application of a paste of ipecacuanha. Colonel Duke recom- 

 mends that 5 to 10 minims of a 5 per cent solution of cocaine be injected 

 subcutaneously, close to the sting, for adults, and 1 to 5 minims for in- 

 fants and children. Murthy (1919) considers that larger quantities of 

 a weak solution of cocaine hydrochloride are better than smaller quantities 



