FINDING NATURE’S TREASURES 
75 
“How does Mother Scorpion feed them/’ asked 
Marylee. 
“I had several mother scorpions and their babies one 
summer/’ said Uncle Jack. “The babies didn’t do any¬ 
thing but sit on the mother’s back for two or three weeks. 
They did not seem to eat a thing, but they did grow 
slowly, and they shed their skins once. No one knows 
how they can grow without eating. Perhaps you will 
study them when you are older and will find out how 
they do it. Many people think that the babies slowly eat 
their mother until she dies. And then they are large 
enough to take care of themselves. But the mothers that 
I kept did not die. I am very sure that the babies did not 
hurt their mother. When they grew larger, they crawled 
down on the ground for a while and then climbed back 
on their mother. Later they left her and hunted for 
food.” 
“Should we kill scorpions when we find them?” asked 
Fred. 
“I don’t think so,” replied Uncle Jack. “They do no 
harm out in the fields. Of course, if they come into the 
house, you must do something with them so that you 
will not get stung.” 
“Let’s leave this mother and her babies alone then,” 
said Marylee. 
