226 THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE INSECT 



Below, immediately after the legs, are the combs, 

 strange organs, an exclusive attribute of the Scorpions. 

 They owe their name to their structure, consisting of a 

 long row of scales arranged close together in the manner 

 of the teeth of our ordinary combs. The anatomists are 

 inclined to ascribe to these the functions of a gearing- 

 apparatus capable of keeping the couple connected at 

 the moment of pairing. 



In order to observe their domestic manners, I lodge 

 my captives in a large glass volery, with big potsherds to 

 serve them as a refuge. There are a couple of dozen 

 Scorpions, all told. In April, when the Swallow returns 

 to us and the Cuckoo sounds his first note, a revolution 

 takes place among my hitherto peaceable Scorpions. 

 Several of them, in the colonies which I have established 

 in the open air, in my garden, go wandering about at night 

 and do not return to their homes. A more serious 

 matter : often, under the same piece of crockery, are two 

 Scorpions, of whom one is in the act of devouring the 

 other. Is it a matter of burglary among insects of the 

 same order, who, faUing into vagabond ways at the com- 

 mencement of the fine weather, thoughtlessly enter their 

 neighbours' houses and there meet with their undoing, 

 unless they be the stronger ? One would almost think 

 it, so calmly is the intruder eaten up, for days at a 

 time and by small mouthfuls, even as an ordinary prey 

 would be. 



Now here is something to give us a hint. The devoured 

 are invariably of middling size. Their lighter shade of 

 colouring, their less protuberant bellies mark them as 

 males, always males. The others, larger, more paunchy, 

 and a little darker in shade, do not end in this unhappy 

 fashion. So it is probably not a case of brawls between 



