418 
ON THE OKRUB OF 
This insect is found in Europe, rarely in France or Hun- 
gary, but often in Greece and Italy. It abounds in all the 
warmer parts of Asia, particularly India, throughout the 
whole extent of Africa, and the hottest part of America. 
The scorpion has two arms, or fore-claws, in each of which 
are four joints, and at the end two nippers. These arms 
stretch round and beyond the head. Its head is a conti- 
nuation of the trunk, which consists of seven or more rings. 
From each side of the trunk hang four legs, each being 
divided into six joints and two claws, here and there covered 
with hair. 
To the last ring the tail is attached, in which globules or 
knots, from four to seven, are united by muscles, and 
these globules, it is thought, point out the length of the ani- 
mal's hfe, one being added each year. 
In the last of these globules the sting is placed, which is 
small, bent forward, and sharp, perforated by three very 
small holes, almost invisible, one at the upper part, and 
two at the sides of the tip, through which the poison is 
propelled. The poison is secreted by a gland, situated at 
the root of the sting, and this gland is pressed when the 
sting is used, and the poison thrown into the wound. 
If the animal be not irritated, it trails its tail along the 
ground ; but if it be irritated, it raises it over its back in the 
form of an arch, and strikes with all its force, whenever it 
finds, or imagines, an opportunity. 
In some scorpions are eight eyes, in others six. There 
are two on the middle of the head, and two on each side of 
it, but placed near the mouth. The two nearest the mouth, 
which were discovered by Swammerdam, are very small. 
All of them indeed are small; but. from the kind of life which 
the animal leads, it has little need of eyes. 
As far as the eyes are concerned, not to mention other 
* 1 Maccab. v. S. 
