WTNGS AND STINGS. 345 



of the year, as the swallow is a herald of Summer, 

 or the falling leaf a warning that Winter is at hand. 

 The sign of the Scorpion in the Zodiac, therefore, 

 marks the month when the Nile falls back. This 

 explanation takes it for granted that the science of 

 astronomy originated in Egypt rather than Chaldea. 



Those mysterious " Scorpion-men " of the Chal- 

 dean mythology show that this creature, like the 

 snake, was regarded as a symbol of evil. 



The natives call the insect " Escropion," by 

 metathesis ; just as the Crocodile becomes in popular 

 Italian " Coccodrillo." I have used the word " insect," 

 but I do not mean to imply that the Scorpion 

 belongs to the class Insecta. He has eight legs. 

 Some terms are forced upon us. Thus we speak of 

 a "silkworm" and a "black beetle," though we 

 know that Bombyx is no worm, and that Blatta is 

 no beetle. 



The Scorpion has as many as four pairs of lungs. 

 There are some persons, alas, who would be quite 

 satisfied to possess one pair moderately sound. 



But the worst tormentors in this region are the 

 flies. More to be dreaded are they than Hornets or 

 Scorpions. One insect is particularly troublesome, 

 for it resembles a house-fly so closely that you may 

 easily be stung while off your guard. 



Fig. 118. SCORPIO.V. 



