416 ZOOLOGY. 



tory canal of the venomous gland already spoken of, and the 

 liquid which it pours into the lx>ttora of the wound causes 

 immediately the benumbing of the insects which these ani- 

 mals pursur. but is too feeble to injure man, and it is 

 without any reason that the common people often ascribe to 

 the bite ot spiders the pimples and red spots which some- 

 times appear on the skin. 



Certain arachnida are provided with another venomous 

 apparatus destined for the same purpose, and also serving as 

 defensive weapons, such as the hook or claw which ter- 

 minates the abdomen of scorpions (Fig. 413). This sting 

 presents underneath the point several openings which com- 

 municate with the venomous glands, and the sting of these 

 arachnida is often mortal, even to animals of considerable 

 size, as the dog. The great scorpions of hot countries are 

 also much dreaded by man, but the sting of the species in- 

 habiting Europe would seem never 

 to be mortal; there generally 

 arises a local inflammation, more 

 or less acute, accompanied with fever 

 and stupor, sometimes vomitings 

 and tremblings, as the results of 

 such a wound. To overcome these 

 s}Tnptoms, medical men recommend 

 pj 412 * the use of volatile alkali, given in- 



ternally as well as applied exter- 

 nally to the wound; emollient substances are also applied 

 to the wound.f 



The intestinal canal is in general very simple, but is some- 

 times complicated, with caecal appendages, which penetrate 

 even into the interior of the limbs. 



In general, tubes analogous to the biliary vessels of insects 

 open into the intestines near the anus ; but in some arach- 

 nida, such as scorpions, there exists also a liver, composed 

 of four glandular branches.^ 



* Buccal apparatus of a spider : , the sternum; I, the lip ; ma, jaws; 

 p, pa)pi of the jaws : m, mandibles ; g, hooks or claws of the mandibles. 



t In Southern Africa, and on the banks of the Great Fish River, I ob- 

 served a small black spider, whose sting produced the symptoms described 

 in the text, even in the adult ; but in none of the cases which I met with 

 did they prove fatal. The remedies I applied were the volatile alkali and 

 strong spirits. !>'. K 



animals are numerous beyond imagination in Southern Africa, on 

 the hanks of the Great Fish River. I remember a large plain covered with 

 small flat !.>.> tmies, underneath each of which there seemed to reside a 

 scorpion ; for of the hundreds turned over, we never failed to find one. They 

 were also always solitary. This was at the post of Wenzel Roosters. R . K . 





