Scorpioncs. 



85 



are filled up with lamellae, whicli are arran^fed like the leaves of a Table- 

 book, cases Nos. 



A number of species possess sound-making organs, whicli are 

 usually situated between the chelicerae or between the palp and 

 the first leg. 



The scorpions are a very ancient group. Fossil species which 

 closely resemble the living forms have been found in strata of the 

 Silurian age. They differ from the Carboniferous and recent 

 species chiefly in that the ter- 

 minal segments of the legs are 

 tliicker, and that the tips of the 

 legs are bluntly pointed and 

 without movable claws. 



In the Geological Department, 

 specimens of the Carboniferous 

 scorpions [Eoscorjjius and Ci/clo- 

 phtliahnus) are exhibited in 

 Gallery 8, Table-case 23, and 

 Wall-case 13c. 



At the present time scorpions 

 are found in all tlie warmer 

 regions of the world. Several of 

 the West African and Indian 

 species (Pandiiuis and Palam- 

 are of very large size, 

 two of them reaching a 

 of about nine inches, 

 are several European 

 the largest of them 

 belonging to the genus Buthus, 

 which has two representatives in 

 Europe. One of these {BntJitis 



occifajiiis) is common in the South of Europe and also occurs 

 in the North of Africa, and the other is found in Greece. 

 Another member of the Buthidae [Butlieoltis mclanuriis), which is 

 of small size, lives in Sicily. The little black scorpions of the genus 

 Euscorpit(s are abundant in the south of Europe. They live under 

 stones and in other obscure situations, and sometimes make their 

 way into houses in the wet weather ; there are four European 

 species. An allied genus {Belisarius), with a single species, 

 wliich has lost all trace of eyes, is restricted in distribution to the 

 Eastern Pyrenees. One of the Buthidae {Isoiitctnis nuiculatus) 



nacufi) 

 one or 

 length 

 There 

 species, 



Jiittlius uccitaiius (slightly reduced). 



