ON ARACHNIDA. 
487 
placed themselves in a posture of defence, face to face, cover- 
ing the body, lowering the abdomen, contracting the feet, 
making a few steps on one side, and then forward, approach- 
ing nearer to each other. They opened their mandibles, and 
seemed desirous to fight ; but the combat ended, either by the 
flight of one or both. Another species does not fear the 
approach of the human hand, but will present to it its large 
forceps. 
Degeer has remarked, relatively to another species (Gros- 
sipes ), that it can run equally sideways and backwards, as 
well as forwards ; and that it often makes leaps in its 
walking. 
M. Walckenaer, with equal exactitude and conciseness, has 
given us a definitive recapitulation of what is most general 
and certain in the history of these araneides, in the following 
terms: — “Araneides watching their prey, seizing it by running 
or leaping, enclosing themselves in a sac of fine and white silk, 
between leaves which they draw together, or in empty shells, 
receptacles of fruits, clefts, and cavities.” 
We shall conclude this supplement on the pulmonary arach- 
nida with a few general observations on the genus Scorpio. 
The scorpions live exclusively in the warm climates of both 
hemispheres, and are so multiplied in certain districts, that 
they become a subject of continual terror to the inhabitants, 
to such an extent, according to some accounts, as to oblige 
them to abandon the soil. The zodiacal constellation of the 
scorpion proves that the knowledge of this animal is of the 
very highest degree of antiquity. Its effigy became the symbol 
of Typhon, the maleficent genius of the Egyptian mythology. 
On the antique engraved stones which present us with the 
traces of this mythology, Anubis is represented facing the scor- 
pion, as if he intended to conjure and annihilate the influence 
of this evil principle. All the fables which superstition and 
ignorance have brought forth, during a series of ages, respect- 
