THE SCORPION. 129 



pedestrian is passing over a sandy bank, and happens to break 

 away a portion of it with his feet, a great bilack scorpion comes 

 tumbling down, rolling over and over among the sandy avalanche, 

 disengaging itself with an angry snap of its claws and a savage 

 whisk of its tail, and phowing fight as if it expected immediate 

 attack from some present enemy. In such cases, the Scorpion 

 has been a true burrower, excavating a temporary dwelling in 

 the sandy soil, and living therein during the day. 



The burrows of the Scorpion can always be detected by the pe- 

 culiar shape of the entrance, which is of a semilunar form, exact- 

 ly fitting the outline of the animal which digs it. The shape of 

 the aperture is not unlike that of the hole which is cut in the 

 seats of wooden stools for the purpose of introducing the hand 

 when they are lifted. Wherever the soil is suitable for their pur- 

 pose, the Scorpions take every advantage of it, so that a great 

 number of these venomous creatures may be found in a compara- 

 tively small space of ground. Captain Pasley, E. A., tells me that, 

 while in India, he has often destroyed, in the space of an hour or 

 so, more than forty Scorpions, which had dug their sandy bur- 

 rows in his garden. 



The semilunar shape of the entrance is an infallible indication 

 of the inhabitant, and in order to find out whether the Scorpion 

 is at home, a jug full of water is poured into the burrow. Scor- 

 pions detest water, and when they feel the stream pouring upon 

 them, they issue from their holes in high dudgeon, their pincers 

 preceding them and snapping wildly at the enemy. A fork or 

 spade is then driven under the Scorpion, and its retreat being 

 thus cut off, it is easily killed. 



The same officer also mentioned, that he had repeatedly tried 

 .the experiment of surrounding the Scorpion with a ring of fire, 

 and that it had invariably stung itself to death. The fiery circle 

 was about fifteen inches in diameter, and composed of smoulder- 

 ing ashes. In every instance the Scorpion ran about for some 

 minutes, trying to escape, and then deliberately bent its tail over 

 its back, inserted the point of its sting between two of the seg- 

 ments of the body and speedily died. This experiment was re- 

 peated seven or eight times, and always with the same results, so 

 that a farther repetition would have been but a useless cruelty. 

 The heat given out by the ashes was very trifling, and not equal 

 to that which is caused by the noontide sun, a temperature which 

 the Scorpion certainly does not like, but which it can endure 



I 



