276 INSECTS. 



killed them all, one after another. He tried this experiment in order to 

 fee whether the moufe, after it had killed, would eat the fcorpions ; but 

 the little quadrupede feemed entirely fatisfied with the viftory, and even 

 furvived the feverity of its wounds. Wolkamer tried the courage of the 

 fcorpion againft the large fpider, which at firft ufed all its efforts to im- 

 mefh the fcorpion in its web, which it immediately began fpinning ; but 

 the fcorpion refcued itfelf trom the danger, by (tinging its adverfary to 

 death : it foon after cut off, with its claws, all the legs of the fpider, 

 and then fucked all the internal parts at its leifure. 



The fierce fpirit of this animal is equally dangerous to its own fpecies. 

 Maupertuis put an hundred of them together in the fame glafs ; and they 

 fcarce came into contad, when they began to exert all their rage in mu- 

 tual deftruflion : there was nothing to be feen but one univerfal carnage, 

 without diftinftion of age or fex ; fo that, in a few days, there remained 

 only fourteen, which had killed and devoured all the rcfl. When driven 

 to extremity, the fcorpion will deftroy itfelf. If placed amidft a circle 

 of burning charcoal, and thus an egrefs prevented on every fide, the 

 fcorpion runs round the circle in hopes of efcaping ; but finding that 

 impoffible, flings itfelf on the back of the head, and inftantly expires. 



The male and female are eafily diftinguifhable ; the male being fmaller 

 and lefs hairy. The female brings forth her young alive and perfed, 

 thirty or forty at a time. How long they live we are not told j but pro- 

 bably feven or eight years ; and the larger kind double that duration. 

 They cafl their fhell, or fkin, which is fofter by far than the lobfter's, 

 and fet with hairs in abundance, particularly at the joinings. The 

 young lie in the parent, each covered up in its own membrane, and 

 united to each other by an oblong thread, in the form of a chaplet. 



There is an American fcorpion, produced from eggs no larger than 

 pins points, and depofited in a web, which they fpin from their bodies, 

 and carry about with them till they are hatched. As foon as the young 

 are excluded from the fliell, they get on the back of the parent^ who 

 turns her tail over them, and defends them with her fling. 



THE 



