ON ARACHNIDA. 493 



situated at a little distance from the sea. M. Dufour pre- 

 sumes this scorpion never advances inland beyond the limits 

 above indicated, and does not think it is to be met with at 

 a height of more than 150 fathoms above the level of the sea, , 

 since the mountains oi Porta-Coeli, situated six leagues to 

 the west of Valentia, although within the Zone, or locale of 

 this scorpion, of an elevation favourable to the propagation of 

 subalpine plants, have not presented to him, in spite of the 

 most careful research, any trace of this animal. The habitat 

 of the scorpion of Europe, is, in like manner, subjected to 

 the influence of the soil and the temperature of the climate. 



This observer was unable to discover any individual of either 

 of these species in the plain of Madrid, the two Castilles, 

 Guipuscoa, the environs of Tudela, and those of Tafalla, in 

 Lower Navarre, although he pursued his investigations during 

 the fine season. But in France the European scorpion begins 

 to make its appearance at a higher latitude, towards the forty- 

 fourth degree, or under the zone which is proper for the 

 culture of the almond and the pomegranate, and approaching 

 within the northern limits of that of the olive-tree. M. 

 Latreille presumes that if it does not inhabit the provinces of 

 Spain, the reason is that the winters there are longer or more 

 rigorous than in the part of France just mentioned. It is also 

 to be observed that the habitation of the reddish scorpion 

 (occitanusj, is also determined by the nature of the insects 

 on which it feeds, and which are proper only to certain 

 localities. M. Dufour has never met with more than two of 

 these under the same shelter. Most usually they are solitary, 

 and dig in the soil a conchoid cavity, where they squat down. 

 When they quit their retreat to seek their food, which is 

 usually in the evening, or during the night, they put forward 

 their palpi, and keep the tail dragging along the ground. 

 But when imtated, or menaced by any danger, they throw 

 the palpi back, and curve the tail over the body, so that the 



