THJi; HABITS OF SOME SCORPIONS. 459 



tegument between the dorsal and ventral sclerites of the meso- 

 soma being stretcbed until quite tense. It seems to be a legi- 

 timate conclusion that tbe food-matters sucked in by the 

 Scorpions are not retained simply in tbe narrow median tract 

 of the alimentary canal, but pass into the wide canals of the 

 gastric caeca (so-called liver), where probably tbey are chemically 

 changed and absorbed. 



Excrement. — The contents of the intestine of the Scorpion 

 (i. e. the part of the gut which lies in the tail) were always found 

 by me to be white and opaque, consisting of a fine moist powder. 

 Whether this powder was derived from the Malpighian tubes or 

 consisted truly of fasces, I am unable at present to say. No 

 faeces were observed to be deposited by the Androctonus whilst 

 in my possession. 



The Combs as Sense-organs. — On several occasions I made ex- 

 periments on the tactile sense of the combs or pectiniform 

 appendages. They appeared to me to possess no special sensi- 

 tiveness. When they were pinched with forceps, the Scorpion 

 showed no evidence of discomfort. It is quite possible that 

 they may acquire a heightened sensibility at the breeding-season, 

 and serve as guides to the male and female in effecting copula- 

 tion. 



Suicide of Scorpions. — The well-attested statement that a 

 Scorpion when placed within a ring of red-hot embers will, after 

 making futile efforts to pass the fiery circle which surrounds it, 

 deliberately kill itself by inflicting a wound mth its sting in its 

 own head, has often been doubted. When killing a Scorpion 

 (A.funestus) in a glass box by the use of chloroform vapour, 

 I witnessed something which tends, I think, to throw light on 

 the old tradition, and to confirm its accuracy in the main. As 

 soon as the Scorpion began to feel the effects of the chloroform- 

 vapour, it made repeated blows with its sting in the straight, 

 forward direction above its head. These blows became gradually 

 less definite, and the muscular movements concerned in them 

 less efficiently coordinated. At last one blow was so ill-directed 

 as to cause the tip of the Scorpion's sting to catch under the 

 free projecting margin of the posterior region of the cephalic 

 shield. In this instance the Scorpion did not lacerate itself ; 

 but I can well believe that occasionally such a misdirected blow 

 with the sting on the part of a half-suffocated Scorpion has 



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