238 



THE AMERICAN 



SOUTHERN NOTES. 

 by j. pauisii stellk, of tennessee . 



Scorpions and Takaktilas in Tennessee.— 

 A Canada Entomologist has written to ask if we 

 liave scorpions and [Fig. isn.] 



tarantulas in Ten- 

 nessee. Irepliedby 

 letter, but thinking 

 tliere may be others 

 wJio would like the 

 same kind of in- 

 formation, I have 

 concluded to say, 

 through the Ameri- 

 t:AN Entomologist, 

 that we have. We 

 have two scorpions 

 in the highlands of 

 Tennessee : the 

 "Long-tail" (i^cor- 

 pio [ Telegonus'] 

 boreuSyGycavA), and 

 the " Short-tail" 

 ( Buthus carolini- coior-Browi. 



anus, Beauvois, Fig. 150). The sting of the 

 former is, of the two, the most venomous, 

 though neither is much to be dreaded. I would 

 about as lief be stung by one of our scorpions 

 as by a hornet. Length of body about one inch ; 

 color dirty greenish-yellow. The "Long-tail" 

 is a shade darker than the ''Short-tail." Our 

 boys sometimes call them teetotallers, from the 

 fact that they cannot endure alcohol. A drop 

 of alcohol, or whisky, deposited upon one of 

 them will cause it to immediately commit sui- 

 cide by stinging itself to death. 



As yet I have found but oue species of taran- 

 tula in Tennessee, theiI/^^a/ei7e?!tei7of Girard, 

 which you figured on page 111 of your first 

 volume. Tarantulas are very rare in Tennesse, 

 owing, possibly, to the work of their deadly 

 enemy, the Digger Wasp (Pompilus formosus, 

 Say), which is quite plentiful here. Both 

 scorpions and tarantulas increase in numbers 

 as one goes down towards the sea-board. 



Centipedes in Tennessee.—- If you wish to 

 sec the old fellow himself just open that!" said 

 a fi-iend the (itlior morning, as he placed a small 

 paper parcel upon my office table. There was 

 no need of opening anything-, liowever, for iu 

 the next instant out from among the folds of the 

 paper, now freed from my friend's gripe, ran " the 

 old fellow Mmself " iu the person of a true Centi- 

 pede about four inches long— the Scolojjendra 

 heros of Girard. One of my arms was resting 



upon the table at the time, and he made a sweej) 

 towards it as fast as his for(\-tw(i Icijs could 

 carry liim, having, doubtU--. licci] tiivorahly 

 impressed with the cavernous iippciinnice of my 

 coat sleeve. I could discover nothing about him 

 to make a favorable impression, especially when 

 associating him with matters up my sleeve, con- 

 sequently I made a sweep also — back from the 

 table. And at all tliis my friend laughed most, 

 excessively. It was as good a thing as he 

 wanted — '• a worm putting an entomologist to 

 rout" — until I had irajji-essed upon him what 

 the creature was, and assured him tliat its bile 

 was almost as venomous as (hat of a rattlesnake. 

 A sudden transit 



* * From gay to grave, Irom lively to severe, ' ' 



I ook place as he thought of the danger his lingers 

 had lately been in, making altogether as good a 

 thing as I wanted. 



The Centipede was soon captured and bottled 

 to the evident reUef of my friend, who assured 

 me that he had often met with them before with- 

 out having the slightest suspicion as to their 

 true character. He had regarded them as some 

 kind of overgrown earwigs, and although he had 

 heard of a terrible animal in Texas called a Cen- 

 tijiede, the thought had never occurred to him 

 that there was such a thing in Tennessee. Nor 

 was he more ignorant in that particular than 

 most of his neighbors: until I had found and 

 recognized the creature, I do not think any of 

 our citizens were aware of the fact that we had 

 centipedes among us. 



There are but few centipedes in Tennessee, 

 and I flunk this point may be put down as about 

 their northern limit. I found one ten miles above 

 Savannah last summer, the furthest up that I 

 have ever met with oue. They are quite common 

 in the Gulf States as we go down, however, 

 increasing in number and size tlie further we go. 

 Here they are small, four inches being about the 

 greatest length to which they attain, but in the 

 vicinity of Mobile I have found them over six 

 inches long. 



Nine-tenths of the slmics (old alxiut centipedes 

 are untrue. I do not nuaid ilicin as being very 

 dangerous at all. They viU bile, and the bite 

 is very poisonous, but you must confine or press 

 them in some way to make them do it. A cen- 

 tipede iu one's clothes or as a bed-fellow might 

 not be just the thing to deUght in, but there is 

 little danger of their getting into such positions, 

 for they abhor light or dry places. The greatest 

 danger is to men handling old rails or pieces of 

 wood that have lain upon the ground for a long- 

 time— they arc likely to turn them up where 

 Ihey are plentiful, and, wilhoul due caution. 



