ON ARACHNIDA. 
493 
situated at a little distance from the sea. M. Dufour pre- 
sumes this scorpion never advances inland beyond the limits 
above indicated, and does not think it is to be met with at 
a height of more than 1 50 fathoms above the level of the sea, 
since the mountains of Porta-Cceli , situated six leagues to 
the west of Valentia, although within the Zone, or locale of 
this scorpion, of an elevation favourable to the propagation of 
subalpine plants, have not presented to him, in spite of the 
most careful research, any trace of this animal. The habitat 
of the scorpion of Europe, is, in like manner, subjected to 
the influence of the soil and the temperature of the climate. 
This observer was unable to discover any individual of either 
of these species in the plain of Madrid, the two Castilles, 
Guipuscoa, the environs of Tudela, and those ofTafalla, in 
Lower Navarre, although he pursued his investigations during 
the fine season. But in France the European scorpion begins 
to make its appearance at a higher latitude, towards the forty- 
fourth degree, or under the zone which is proper for the 
culture of the almond and the pomegranate, and approaching 
within the northern limits of that of the olive-tree. M. 
Latreille presumes that if it does not inhabit the provinces of 
Spain, the reason is that the winters there are longer or more 
rigorous than in the part of France just mentioned. It is also 
to be observed that the habitation of the reddish scorpion 
( occitanus ), is also determined by the nature of the insects 
on which it feeds, and which are proper only to certain 
localities. M. Dufour has never met with more than two of 
these under the same shelter. Most usually they are solitary, 
and dig in the soil a conchoid cavity, where they squat down. 
When they quit their retreat to seek their food, which is 
usually in the evening, or during the night, they put forward 
their palpi, and keep the tail dragging along the ground. 
But when irritated, or menaced by any danger, they throw 
the palpi back, and curve the tail over the body, so that the 
