260 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



down. And then an exaggerated form of "pins and 

 needles" set in, followed by what resembled a suc- 

 cession of powerful electric shocks running up the leg 

 at intervals of two or three minutes. Altogether, the 

 victim of a scorpion's sting can well realize the feelings 

 of gouty patients, who dread to see even their best 

 friends coming within five or six yards of them. It 

 was two days before I could put my foot to the ground; 

 and then, for several more, I could only hobble pain- 

 fully with the aid of a stick. 



Colonial boys are fond of setting scorpions to fight 

 with tarantulas. The great spiders are most pugnacious, 

 and seem only too glad of an opportunity to fight with 

 anything. T once watched one of them in desper- 

 ate battle with a centipede. The vicious spider, whose 

 body was as large as that of a mouse, seized his 

 antagonist and shook him savagely, just as a terrier 

 shakes a rat ; then, letting him go for a time, he would 

 spring upon him, pick him up, and worry him again, 

 apparently with fiendish pleasure. He continued this 

 mode of warfare until the final collapse of the poor 

 centipede, whose pluck in facing such an adversary at 

 all deserves to be commended. 



Prominent among insect nuisances are ants of many 

 different sorts and sizes, the worst of all being the 

 mischievous rice ants. Many a carpet or curtain is 

 utterly ruined by these creatures, which have a trick 

 of coming up unexpectedly through the floor in large 

 numbers, generally during the night, when they can 

 carry on their destructive work without interruption. 



