A Parasite of the Maggot 



upon undergo a curious change, unknown in 

 my earlier observations. Then the suspicion 

 comes to me that the actual poison of the 

 Scorpion does not enter into the matter at all. 

 What I obtain with the end joint of the tail, 

 with the gland at the base of the sting, I ought 

 to obtain with any other part of the animal. 



I crush in a few drops of water a joint of 

 the tail taken from the front portion, far from 

 the poison-glands. After soaking it for twenty- 

 four hours, I obtain a liquid whose effects 

 are absolutely the same as those before, when 

 I used the joint that bears the sting. I try 

 again with the Scorpion's claws, the contents 

 of which consist solely of muscle. The re- 

 sults are just the same. The whole of the ani- 

 mal's body, therefore, no matter which frag- 

 ment be submitted to the steeping-process, 

 yields the virus that so greatly pricks my curi- 

 osity. 



Every part of the Spanish Fly, 1 inside and 

 out, is saturated with the blistering element; 

 but there is nothing like this in the Scorpion, 

 who localizes his venom in his caudal gland 

 and has none of it elsewhere. The cause 

 of the effects which I observe is therefore con- 



'A Beetle known also as the Cantharis, or Blistering 

 Beetle. — Translator's Note. 



373 



