SCORPIONS. 



37 



In their native countries the natives do not seem to dread them. 

 Dr. Leared informs us that at Morocco he saw men take them up 

 in their hands and make them run along their naked arm, turning 

 them back as they came to the edge and threatened to topple 

 over. 



They do not lay eggs, but are viviparous. They are, however^ 

 most unnatural parents, for they devour their offspring as soon as 

 they are born. 



Mr. Riley, the State entomologist of Missouri, says of the 

 American species, that the boys sometimes call them teetotallers, 

 from the fact that they cannot endure alcohol ; and that a drop of 

 whisky deposited upon one of them will cause it to immediately 

 commit suicide by stinging itself to death. 



They have been divided into a number of sections, according 



Buthus afer (natural size, small specimen). 



to the number and position of eyes on the head. The big black 

 species, with thick, heavy, hard claws constitute the genus Buthus. 



