THE SCORPIONS POISOX. v 210 



soldiers who were stung by those of Egypt, was the amputation 

 of the wounded limb ; and Professor Ehrenberg, who, while 

 making his researches on the Natural History of the Eed Sea, 

 was stung -^Ive times by the Androctonus quinqitestriatus, and 

 funestus, says he can well believe, from the dreadful pains 

 he suffered, that the poison of these scorpions may become 

 fatal to women and children. 



Scorpions, being intolerant of light, creep by day into every 

 hole or corner that can shelter them from the unwelcome 

 sunbeams, and often cause very great annoyance by this custom. 

 No traveller in a scorpion-infested country who has learnt by 



t experience the habits and dangerous character of these creatures 

 will retire to rest before having carefully examined his bed, 

 especially taking up the pillow, to ascertain that no enemy is 

 lurking within the folds of the bedding. Shoes, boots, and 

 gloves are also favourite resorts of the scorpion, a circumstance 

 which hp^s caused many a serious accident. 

 The burrows of this formidable animal can always be detected 

 by the semilunar form of the entrance, exactly fitting the 

 outline of the animal which digs it. To force them to quit the 

 premises nothing more is required than to pour in some water, 

 when the disturbed inmate rushes furiously out, his pincers 

 snapping wildly at the enemy. 



The suicidal propensities of the scorpion, when, inclosed by a 

 fiery circle, it finds escape impossible, have been often mentioned 

 in prose and poetry, and form among others the subject of a 

 H| beautiful simile in Byron's ' Giaour ' : — 



The Mind, that broods o'er guilty woes, 



Is like the scorpion girt by fire, 

 In circle narrowing as it glows, 

 The flames around their captive close, 

 Till, inly searched by thousand throes, 



And maddening in her ire. 

 One sad and sole relief she knows, 

 The sting she nourish'd for her foes, 

 Whose venom never yet was A^ain, 

 Gives but one pang, and cures all pain, 

 And darts into her desperate brain : 

 So do the dark in soul expire, 

 Or live like scorpion girt by fire. 



The voluntary death of the animal is doubted by many, who 

 maintain that the position of the sting when turned towards 



