26 Poisonous Arthropods 



glands are at the base of the first pair of legs (fig. 15), which- are 

 bent forward so as to be used in holding their prey. The legs 

 terminate in a powerftd claw, at the tip of which is the 

 outlet of the poison glands. 



The poison is a limpid, homogeneous, sHghtly acid 

 fluid, which precipitates in distilled water. Briot (1904) 

 extracted it from the glands of Scolopendra morsitans, a 

 species common in central France, and found that it was 

 actively venomous for the ordinary experimental ani- 

 mals. A rabbit of two kilograms weight received an 

 ,. „ jv, r iniection of three cubic centimeters in the vein of the ear 



16. Mandible of -' . . . . , 



Scolopendra and died in a minute. A white rat, weighmg forty-eight 



cingulata . . 



showing grams, received one and a half cubic centimeters m the 



venom^ ,.j. 



gKnd. After h^n^ jgg. There was an almost immediate paralysis of 



Dubosq. ° 



the leg and marked necrosis of the tissues. 



As for the effect on man, there is little foundation for the fear 

 with which centipedes are regarded. Our native species produce, 

 at most, local symptoms, — sometimes severe local pain and swell- 

 ing, — ^but there is no authentic record of fatal results. In the tropics, 

 some of the species attain a large size, Scolopendra gigantea reaching 

 a length of nearly a foot. These forms are justly feared, and there 

 is good evidence that death sometimes, though rarely, results from 

 their bite. 



One of the most careful accounts of death from the sting of the 

 scorpion is that of Linnell, (1914), which relates to a comparatively 

 small Malayan species, unfortunately undetermined. The patient, 

 a coolie, aged twenty, was admitted to a hospital after having been 

 stung two days previously on the left heel. For cure, the other 

 coolies had made him eat the head of the scorpion. On admission, 

 the patient complained of "things creeping all over the body". 

 Temp. 102.8°. On the fourth day he had paralysis of the legs, and 

 on the fifth day motor paralysis to the umbilicus, sensation being 

 unaltered. On the sixth day there was retention of the urine and 

 on the ninth day (first test after third day) sugar was present. On 

 the thirteenth day the patient became comatose, but could be 

 roused to eat and drink. The temperature on the following day fell 

 below 95° and the patient was still comatose. Death fifteenth day. 



Examination of the spinal (lumbar) cord showed acute dissemi- 

 nated myelitis. In one part there was an acute destruction of the 

 anterior horn and an infiltration of round cells. In another portion 



