122 TlMEHRI. 
poisonous snakes and scorpions might wound themselves 
in a vital part and die of the wound independently of 
poison. Under local irritation these animals repeatedly 
strike to remove the source of irritation, and a dan- 
gerous wound in a vital part, caused by these means 
under excitement, by the animal itself, would certainly 
be fatal — a result that very naturally would be ascribed 
to the poison injetted, though the wound, and not the 
poison, would be the real cause. 
The question may now be regarded as settled. Scor- 
pions cannot, any more than poisonous snakes, commit 
suicide by poisoning themselves — nor can they murder 
their relations by poisoning them. 
A New Rat from British Guiana. — A new species of 
rat from the colony has been described and figured in 
the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, February 15, 
1887, by Mr. Oldfield Thomas, F.Z.S., Assistant in 
the Zoological Department, British Museum. The speci- 
men, together with twelve other small mammals, was ob- 
tained by Mr. W. L. SCLATER, son of the Secretary of the 
Zoological Society, during his recent visit to the colony. 
The 13 specimens, colledted at Maccasseema, Calacoon, 
and Plantation Hope, have been referred to 8 species, 
of which 5 are Bats, 2 are Rodents and one is a Marsu- 
pial. 
The new rat, from Maccasseema, is the first form, of 
its sub-genus, recorded from the region north of the 
Amazons and East of Columbia. It was given to Mr. 
SCLATER by one of the Indians at Maccasseema, and 
