ON ARACHNIDA. 487 



placed themselves in a posture of defence, face to face, cover- 

 ing the body, lowering the abdomen, contracting the feet, 

 making a few steps on one side, and then forward, approach- 

 ing nearer to each other. They opened their mandibles, and 

 seemed desirous to fight ; but the combat ended, either by the 

 flight of one or both. Another species does not fear the 

 approach of the human hand, but will present to it its large 

 forceps. 



Degeer has remarked, relatively to another species {Gros- 

 sipes), that it can run equally sideways and backwards, as 

 well as forwards ; and that it often makes leaps in its 

 walking. 



M. Walckenaer, with equal exactitude and conciseness, has 

 given us a definitive recapitulation of what is most general 

 and certain in the history of these araneides, in the following 

 terms : — " Araneides watching their prey, seizing it by running 

 or leaping, enclosing themselves in a sac of fine and white silk, 

 between leaves which they draw together, or in empty shells, 

 receptacles of fruits, clefts, and cavities." 



We shall conclude this supplement on the pulmonary arach- 

 nida with a few general observations on the genus Scorpio. 



The scorpions live exclusively in the warm climates of both 

 hemispheres, and are so multiplied in certain districts, that 

 they become a subject of continual terror to the inhabitants, 

 to such an extent, according to some accounts, as to oblige 

 them to abandon the soil. The zodiacal constellation of the 

 scorpion proves that the knowledge of this animal is of the 

 very highest degree of antiquity. Its effigy became the symbol 

 of Typhon, the maleficent genius of the Egyptian mythology. 

 On the antique engraved stones which present us with the 

 traces of this mythology, Anubis is represented facing the scor- 

 pion, as if he intended to conjure and annihilate the influence 

 of this evil principle. All the fables which superstition and 

 ignorance have brought forth, during a series of ages, respect- 



