SCORPIONS. 292 
most efficient weapon of attack and defence. The same care of this sting is 
shown in the carriage of the tail, this organ being curled in sucha way that 
the point cannot come into contact with any foreign bodies. Even when 
teased with a piece of stick or irritated by being crawled upon by a cockcroach, 
a scorpion is not often sufficiently provoked as to use the sting. The tail is 
certainly used to knock aside the instrument or sweep off the insect, but the 
sides or lower surface of the organ are employed, the vesicle being carefully 
tucked down. Upon one occasion a Parabuthus was seen to killa cockroach 
and retire to a corner to eat it in peace, beginning at the tail end. Presently 
a smaller example of the same species coming along and finding the opposite 
extremity of the insect disengaged, started feeding on its own account. So 
quietly was the process carried on by the two, that not until nothing but a 
few shreds remained did the larger discover the presence of its messmate. 
Thereupon it quickly brought its tail into use, and by beating off its unwel- 
come guest secured for itself the remains of the meal, But although the 
provocation was great the defrauded one never attempted to use its sting to 
punish the intruder. 
In connection with the organs of touch, the pectine or ventral eons must 
not be forgotten, Of the function of these appendages something is known, 
though, no doubt, much remains to be learnt. Their situation near the gene- 
rative aperture, their larger size in the males, and the modification of their 
basal portion in the females of some species, e.g., Parabuthus, suggest that 
they are tactile sexual organs of some importance, and Gaubert’s discovery 
of the nervous terminations in the teeth is a satisfactory confirmation of this 
supposition. But apart from sexual functions it is highly probable that they 
are useful organs of touch in other relations of life, enabling their possessor 
to learn the nature of the surface over which itis walking. In favour of 
this view may be adduced the fact that these animals have been seen to touch 
the ground with their combs. Moreover, it isa very noticeable circumstance 
that scorpions which, like Huscorpius, creep along with their bellies close to 
the ground, have very short combs ; while in others which, like Parabuthus, 
stand high upon their legs, the combs are exceedingly long. I once noticed 
a Parabuthus marching over a piece of a dead cockroach. When she had 
half crossed it, instead of going straight ahead, as was expected, she halted 
abruptly, backed a little, and, stooping down, started to devour the fragment. 
From the height at which the body was being carried, Iam persuaded that 
no portion of its lower surface, except the combs, could have come into 
contact with the piece of food ; so there can be little doubt that its presence 
was detected by means of the organs in question. 
Creatures which, like snakes, are both carnivorous and venomous, and present 
at the same time an appearance which is by no means reassuring, are always held 
in bad repute by mankind in general, and suffer in accordance with the 
principle laid down in the adage,“ Give adog a bad name and hang him,” 
