Notes on the Natural History of the Scorpion. 387 



species than the Cuban A. impnnctus, Grote, of a slightly smaller 

 size, and has the thorax above punctate with black. This lat- 

 ter character has, then, been properly relied on, among others, 

 to distinguish the continental from the insular species, since 

 the Cuban A impnnctus, Grote, (<?$>) has the thoracic region 

 above, and head impunctate, whereas Cramer's figure ( ?) has 

 these parts dotted with black. In the single ( $ ) Mexican 

 specimen we have before us, the vertex is immaculate, there 

 being no black mark between the eyes as represented in Cra- 

 mer's figure. 



XXXVII. — Notes on the Natural History of the Scorpion. 

 By the Hon. Richard Hill, of Jamaica, W. I. 



(COMMUNICATED BY T. BLAXD.) 

 Eead October 22, 1866. 



It is when a question is unexpectedly asked relative to ob- 

 jects we know familiarly, that we find we have taken for grant- 

 ed a multitude of circumstances which, when inquired into, are 

 found to have been improperly stated, or imperfectly under- 

 stood. I have been looking into the authority for things said 

 respecting the parentage, and life, and habits of Scorpions, and 

 I find them, when attentively considered, to be true in appear- 

 ance — but in appearance only. I refer first to the assured fact 

 that the young clinging to the mother-scorpion quit her only 

 when they have exhausted her by living on that vital circula- 

 tion we may call her blood, and leaving her dry and dead. 



The known moult of the parent scorpion seems to explain 

 the occurrence of the young being found on the dry integument 

 that has been sloughed off. How often has the perfect case of 

 a crab on the rocks been taken for the crustacean dead and 

 dried up. It is the moulted casement, that the living creature 

 has shrunk out of, which appears as the dead crab. 



