630 



anal ; and the body covered with small scales. Only 

 a few specimens are mentioned as having occurred in 

 the British seas, and all in the west of Cornwall. 

 They have been of different sizes, some only fifteen 

 inches in length, and others two feet eight, the latter 

 weighing nearly fourteen pounds. The skin of this 

 fish is very tough and strong, and can be taken off 

 like that of an eel. The flesh is of very superior qua- 

 lity. The snout is blunt and rounded; the gape 

 small ; the teeth very fine ; the tongue large ; nos- 

 trils double, and that nearest the eye the largest ; 

 the eye bright and prominent ; the head flattened on 

 the upper part ; gills with five rays ; body compress- 

 ed, wilh the base of the dorsal fin on a ridge ; the 

 base of the dorsal about half the length of the fish ; 

 pectoral fins pointed ; ventral confined by a mem- 

 brane ; tail forked. The whole body black, scarcely 

 lighter on the belly, and very intense on the fins. 

 The colour fades to blue, however, after the fish has 

 been for some time out of the water. This disposi- 

 tion to change in the colour, has occasioned some 

 perplexity in the description of the fish. In warmer 

 seas it has a fine play of irridescent colours, which 

 pass off, however, as the fish dies. These glosses of 

 colour are common to the whole mackerel family, 

 but they are more conspicuous in the Coryphenes 

 than in any of the others. They are probably con- 

 nected with the energy of the principle of life in these 

 fishes, and the powerful influence which, considering 

 how near the surface they swim, the sun must have 

 upon them ; but this connection between energy of 

 life and play of colour, though a very curious sub- 

 ject, is one which has not been as yet much investi- 

 gated. 



The black fish is very swift and powerful in the 

 water. One taken in a salmon net at East Looe in 

 1830, showed great power of action, and would have 

 dashed its way through a net of weaker structure. 

 What may be the numbers of this species in the sea, 

 we have no means of ascertaining ; but from the size 

 which they attain, and the very superior quality of 

 their flesh, it were very desirable to find out their 

 haunts, if they do congregate in numbers in any part 

 of our seas. It follows, of course, from the energy of 

 their characters, that they are very rapacious ; and it 

 has been ascertained that they are miscellaneous in 

 their feeding, eating not only small fishes and mol- 

 lusca, but even sea-weed. Thus, if the places where 

 they are in numbers could be ascertained, they could 

 be easily taken with hook and line. 



Such is a very abridged outline of the mackerel 

 family, especially of such members of it as are found 

 on the British shores ; the full illustration would de- 

 mand a separate work exclusively devoted to the 

 subject ; and, readily as most of the species show 

 themselves, much remains to be done before such a 

 work could be made worthy of its subject. 



SCORPIO (Linnaeus). A genus (or rather 

 SCORPJONID^:, Leach, a family) of arachnidous in- 

 sects, belonging to the order Polymerosomata, Leach, 

 or Pedipalpi, Latreille (see ARACHNIDA), having the 

 abdomen attached by its entire breadth to the thorax, 

 furnished on the under side with two moveable comb- 

 like plates, and terminated by an elongated and knot- 

 ted tail, the extremity of which is armed with a curved 

 and very acute sting. The breathing pores are eisrht 

 in number, arranged four on each side along the 

 belly ; the arms (or palpi, very greatly developed) 

 are of very large size, serving as instruments of 



SCORPIO. 



prehension, and terminated by a large claw. The 

 legs are eight in number, of moderate size, and 

 much larger than the palpi. The eyes are eight in 

 number, three on each side of the thorax, and two 

 on the back. The " antennae-pincers " are terminated 

 by two fingers, one of which is moveable. The 

 abdomen (including the tail) is composed of twelve 

 segments. The use of the curious comb-like appen- 

 dages has not yet been determined. 



The scorpion is one of the most renowned amongst 

 the obnoxious of the insect tribes. Fortunately lor 

 our country no species is found amongst us, although 

 in Germany, and several other parts of Europe, it is 

 too well known. This exemption is consequent upon 

 our northern climates, since it is chiefly in tropical, or 

 at least in hot regions of both hemispheres, that the 

 various species are found, and in the former they occa- 

 sionally attain a very large size. They reside on the 

 ground in sandy districts, and hide themselves by day 

 under stones,logs of wood, &c., especially in dark places, 

 and often in houses. They run very quickly, and, 

 when alarmed, throw their tail over the back, twist- 

 ing it about in every direction, and using it both as 

 an offensive and defensive weapon. They make use 

 of their claws to la}' hold of insects upon which they 

 feed, and which generally consist of ground-beetles, 

 cockroaches, &c., which they first wound with their 

 sting, and then convey to their mouth. They are 

 also especially fond of the eggs of spiders and other 

 insects. They propagate in some localities so quickly 

 as to become a constant cause of dread, even occa- 

 sionally compelling the inhabitants to quit their 

 abodes. These animals were well known to the 

 ancients, and the zodiacal constellation of the 

 Scorpion will convince us that a knowledge of these 

 creatures must be attributed to the earliest periods 

 of science. In the Egyptian mythology they are 

 represented as the symbol of the genius of evil. 

 Pliny has collected all the fables which ignorance 

 and superstition combined had attributed to these 

 creatures, and on the authority of Apollodorus he 

 distinguished nine species. Nicander added another, 

 and detailed the supposed medical virtues of the 

 animal. The existence of scorpions with two tails 

 is not entirely fabulous, since there exists in the 

 Museum at Paris a specimen (a monstrosity, of 

 course) in which this singularity of malformation is 

 exhibited. The winged scorpions which Megasthenes 

 stated that he discovered in India, and which were 

 affirmed to be of a very large size, were in all proba- 

 bility nothing else than some large Phasma, or 

 perhaps one of the gigantic exotic Nepidcc. 



In France the Scorpio Eurvpceus appears about 

 the forty-fourth degree of latitude, in that zone where 

 the almond tree and pomegranate are capable of 

 cultivation, and nearly equal with the most northern 

 limits of the olive. 



There are few animals more obnoxious than the 

 scorpion, especially in tropical climates, where it 

 often attains to a very large size. In Batavia, where 

 they are stated to attain the length of twelve inches, 

 there is no removing any piece of furniture without 

 the utmost danger of being stung by them. Bosnian 

 assures us that along the Gold Coast they are often 

 found larger than a lobster, and that their sting is 

 inevitably fatal. In Europe, however, they are by 

 no means so large, so venomous, or so numerous. 

 The general size of the European scorpion does not 

 exceed two or three inches. Maupertuis, who made 



