306 ON THE STRUCTURE OF THE MOUTH 
Even the elaborate and beautifully illustrated memoir on the 
organization of Scorp7o occ?tanus, published by M. Blanchard, a couple 
of years ago, does not furnish the inquirer with either definite or 
accurate information on this point. At page 19, I find under the 
head of “moth” : 
“Tn the scorpion there exists only a single buccal piece properly 
so called; it is inserted in the median line above (au-dessus) the 
mouth, just below the chelicerae (antennes pinces), and wedged in, so to 
speak, between the foot-jaws. It is a little flexible appendage, 
thinner towards its extremity, sensibly dilated laterally, convex above, 
and beset, chiefly at the end, with fine and silky hairs. This piece 
presents two apodemata (apodémes a’insertion), which diverge greatly 
from one another. 
“One finds a certain difficulty in positively determining the nature 
of the single buccal appendage of the scorpion. It is impossible to 
regard it as the analogue of the labrum (lure supérdeure) of insects. 
The labrum is one of those pieces which abort most completely in 
the arachnida. Besides, in all articulata, this labrum receives nerves 
which arise from the cerebral ganglia. It is different with the buccal 
appendage of the scorpion ; its nerves arise from the anterior part ot 
the subcesophageal ganglia, exactly like those of the mandibles and 
manillz of Crustacea and Insects. It can thus only be compared to 
these pieces; but ought we to regard it as representing both the 
mandibles and the jaws, or only the mandibles, or the jaws, either one 
or the other being supposed to be aborted ?” 
With respect to both the main points contained in these 
paragraphs, however, M. Blanchard subsequently makes statements 
which seem difficult to harmonise with the conclusions enunciated. 
Thus, at page 41, I find: 
“The pharyngeal nerves are two pair. Those of the first take 
their origin from the anterior and median edge of the cerebrum, and 
almost immediately unite so as to form a_ single nerve, whose 
branches are distributed in the upper portion of the buccal 
appendage. It is evidently the analogue of the nerves of the labrum 
of insects.” 
And, again, at page 60: 
“Mouth and wsophagus—TVhe buccal orifice appears under the 
form of a little transverse cleft, hidden under the chelicere adove 
(au-dessus) the median appendage, which has already been described 
(p. 19}; its edges are flexible, and are deprived of asperities. The 
cesophagus, which commences in a slightly funnel-shaped pharynx, is 
1 The livraisons of M. Blanchard’s work are unfortunately published without dates. 
