io6 



NATURE 



[JUNE I, 189; 



with setse, and the poison vesicle always has some upon 

 it. Their use upon this latter organ is very plainly seen 

 during the act of stinging. For this act is not by any 

 means a random thrust delivered indiscriminately at 

 any part ofa captured insect. On the contrary, a scorpion 

 generally feels carefully for a soft spot, and then with an 

 air of great deliberation delicately inserts its sting into 

 it. There can be little doubt that this care is taken 

 that there may be no risk of damaging the point of the 

 sting against a substance too hard for it. A reckless stab 

 against the resisting chitinous exoskeleton of a beetle, for 

 instance, might easily chip this point and thus deprive 

 the scorpion of its most efficient weapon of attack and 

 -defence. The same care of the sting is shown in the 

 carriage of the tail, this organ being curled in such a 

 way that the point cannot come into contact with any 

 foreign bodies. Even when teased with a piece of stick 

 or irritated by being crawled upon by a cockroach, a 

 scorpion is not often sufficiently provoked as to use the 

 sting. The tail is certainly used to knock aside the in- 

 strument or sweep off the insect, but the sides or lower 

 surface of the organ are employed, the vesicle being care- 

 fully tucked down. Upon one occasion a Parabuthus 

 was seen to kill a cockroach and retire to a corner to 

 eat it in peace, beginning at the tail end. Presently a 

 smaller example ofthe same species coming along and 

 finding the opposite extremity of the insect disengaged, 

 started feeding on its own account. So quietly was the 

 process carried on by the two, that not until nothing but 

 a few shreds remained did the larger discover the presence 

 of its messmate. Thereupon it quickly brought its tail 

 into use and by beating off its unwelcome guest secured 

 for itself the remains of the meal. But although the pro- 

 vocation was great the defrauded one never attempted to 

 use its sting to punish the intruder. 



In connection with the organs of touch, the pectine or 

 ventral combs must not be forgotten. Of the function of 

 these appendages something is known, though no doubt 

 much remains to be learnt. Their situation near the 

 generative aperture, their larger size in the males, and 

 the modification of their basal portion in the females of 

 some species, e.g. Parabuthus, suggest that they are 

 tactile sexual organs of some importance, and Gaubert's 

 discovery of the nervous terminations in the teeth is a 

 satisfactory confirmation of this supposition. But apart 

 from sexual functions it is highly probable that they are 

 useful organs of touch in other relations of life, enabling 

 their possessor to learn the nature of the surface over 

 which it is walking. In favour of this view may be 

 adduced the fact that these animals have been seen to 

 touch the ground with their combs. Moreover, it is a 

 A'ery noticeable circumstance that scorpions which, like 

 Euscorpius, creep along with their bellies close to the 

 ground, have very short combs ; while in others which, 

 like Parabuthus, stand high upon their legs, the combs 

 are exceedingly long. I once noticed a Parabuthus 

 marching over a piece of a dead cockroach. When she 

 had half crossed it, instead of going straight ahead as 

 was expected, she halted abruptly, backed a little, and, 

 stooping down, started to devour the fragment. From 

 the height at which the body was being carried, I am 

 persuaded that no portion of its lower surface, except the 

 combs, could have come into contact with the piece of 

 food ; so there can be little doubt that its presence was 

 detected by means of the organs in question. | 



Creatures which, like snakes, are both carnivorous and 1 

 venomous, and present at the same time an appearance 

 which is by no means reassuring, are always held in bad 

 repute by mankind in general, and suffer in accordance 

 with the principle laid down in the adage, " Give a dog 

 a bad name and hang him." But amongst creatures of 

 this description it is probable that scorpions qualify for 

 first place with respect to the number and enormity of 

 the vices with which they have been charged. Those 



NO. I 23 I, VOL. 48] 



that are most frequently alleged against them are general 

 ferocity, murder, cannibalism, infanticide, and suicide. 

 And yet in spite of this serious charge-sheet, there is no 

 doubt that they are much-maligned animals. For in 

 defence of the accusation of ferocity I can say that 1 

 never saw a scorpion use its destructive weapons except 

 with the legitimate object of killing prey for purposes of 

 nutrition, or as a reasonable means of defence when 

 molested. Naturally enough they will not tolerate 

 handling, but when allowed to crawl upon the hand they 

 make no attempt to sting it, and merely evince a desire 

 to escape to surroundings more natural and congenial 

 than human skin. From the charges of cannibalism and 

 murder, however, these animals cannot be so easily 

 cleared. For there is an abundance of evidence that 

 they do sometimes, when in captivity, both kill and eat 

 each other. Nevertheless, so far as my experience goes, 

 members of the same species do for the most part live 

 together in perfect harmony. Once only did I see a large 

 Euscorpius eating a small one. But since the latter 

 showed no signs of violence, there are no reasons for 

 supposing that it had died other than a natural death. 

 Like many other animals, scorpions may be made to 

 fight by artificial means, and when roused to a high 

 pitch of excitement by too much heat, they will clutch an'd 

 grab at each other with the appearance of the greatest 

 ferocity. But I never saw any evil result from these 

 tussles. The combatants always seemed to prefer to 

 part company without bloodshed. 



As for the accusation of infanticide, it appears to be 

 quite groundless. For it is well known that a mother- 

 scorpion protects her young by carrying them about on 

 her back until they are able to shift for themselves. 



The question as to whether scorpions do or do not 

 commit suicide by stinging themselves to death, when 

 placed in a circle of fire, or otherwise tortured by that 

 element, is one which has excited a considerable amount 

 of discussion. The belief that they do do so, with the object 

 of escaping from the pains of burning, is of long standing, 

 and probably has many adherents at the present time. 

 But the experiments of Mr. Bourne upon some Madras 

 species have shown (firstly) that the poison has no effect 

 upon the scorpion that possesses it, nor yet upon a member 

 of the same or ofa closely allied species, and (secondly) 

 that these animals are easily and quickly killed by a 

 moderately warm temperature (50° C.). Moreover, when 

 distressed by a too warm atmosphere, or, according to 

 Lankester, by chloroform vapour, these animals have a 

 habit of waving their tails in the air and of thrusting the 

 sting forwards over the head, as if to punish some unseen 

 enemy. And if the sun's rays be focussed with a lens 

 upon the back of a scorpion, the animal immediately 

 brings its tail over, and attempts to remove with it the 

 cause of irritation. So that the true account of at least 

 some of the so-called cases of suicide by scorpions seems 

 to be this ; the animals in reality have died from the heat 

 to which they were exposed, and the observers have 

 erroneously inferred that the thrusts of the tail were 

 intended to put an end to the animal's sufferings. My 

 own experiments are all in favour of this conclusion. 

 I held a specimen of Euscorpius in a corked test-tube 

 over a low fire. As soon as the air in the tube began to 

 grow warm the animal, apparently in great distress, 

 struggled about the confined space for a few seconds, 

 brandishing its tail the while, then lapsed into insensi- 

 bility. The glass of the tube at this period was only 

 slightly warm to my hand. Taken out of the tube and 

 placed near an open window, the animal quickly revived ; 

 but it died the third time the experiment was tried. On 

 no occasion, however, did it attempt to sting itself. I 

 also experimented upon Euscorpius and Parabuthus by 

 focussing the sun's rays upon them, and by placing mus- 

 tard upon the membrane between the plates of the back. 

 Both the species attempted to remove the cause of 



