86 



HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. III. 



shall terminate the battle. " Roesel, who kept some of 

 these insects, observes that, in their mutual conflicts, 

 their manoeuvres very much resemble those of hussars 

 fighting with sabres ; and sometimes one cleaves the 

 other through at a single stroke, or severs the head 

 from the body."* The manners of the scorpion (fig. 

 23.) are equally fierce and revolting. Not only is it 



dangerous to its enemies, but terrible to its own species; 

 so that, out of one hundred of these insects, which 

 Maupertuis inclosed together in a vessel, such was the 

 bloody- scene that ensued, that, in a few days, only four- 

 teen remained alive, having killed and devoured the rest 

 of their companions. Spiders, also, appear to be sub- 

 ject to violent paroxysms of anger ; their mutual en- 

 counters being long and obstinate, whenever two of 

 equal size meet each other, neither of them being 

 found to yield. Leeuwenhoek watched a conflict of this 

 description between two large spiders, both of whom 

 grappled together furiously with their fangs, till one of 

 them lay dead upon the spot, its body being as wet 

 with the blood flowing from the wounds received, as 

 if water had been poured upon it. t Yet, although 

 thus ferocious in their combats, they are anxiously alive 

 to the preservation of their young, and will leave no 

 means untried to secure it. One species, the Aranea 

 saccata Lin., lays her eggs In a little silken bag, attached 



* Shaw's Zool vol. ii. p. 119. t Leeuwenhoek, vol. i. p. 38 



