32 
HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 
sionally fatal and certainly very painful and distressing.” 
This spider belongs to the genus Latrodectus, and Walck- 
enaer, says the same journal, writing of the Latrodectus 
malmignatus, an allied species common in Sardinia and Cor¬ 
sica and parts of Italy, remarks :— “This spider is certainly 
poisonous; its bite, they say, causes in man pain, lethargy 
and sometimes fever.” A species of the same genus which 
lives in Georgia is said by Hentz (and not Abbot as “Nature” 
says) to have an “ undoubtedly venomous ” bite. 
As regards the bite and habits of the scorpion, the testi¬ 
mony of Anderssen, the African traveller, may be cited as 
the common experience of inhabitants in the tropics, lie 
says “The instant the scorpion feels himself in contact with 
any part of the body of a man or beast, he lifts his tail, and, 
with his horny sting, inflicts a wound which, though rarely 
fatal, is still of a painful nature. Like the snake, the scorpion 
is fond of warmth ; and it is not uncommon, on awakening in 
the morning, to find one or two of these horrid creatures 
snugly ensconced in the folds of the blanket, or under the 
pillow. On one occasion I killed a scorpion, measuring 
nearly seven and a half inches in length, that had thus un¬ 
ceremoniously introduced itself into my bed.” 
The poison gland of the scorpion, as everybody knows, is 
lodged in the tail. The scorpion is a timorous creature and 
only uses its sting when alarmed. 
Dr. Lincecum has published in the “American Naturalist” 
an interesting account of the scorpion of Texas, a figure of 
which we reproduce (Fig. 63). He says that it dwells under 
old logs, rocks, in old stumps, under the bark of dead trees, 
under old fences, between the shingles on house-tops and par¬ 
ticularly about the jambs and hearths of fire-places. “In tem¬ 
per they are hasty and will employ their weapons on slight 
occasions. The pain caused by their venom, when injected 
into one’s flesh, is very quickly felt and quite severe, giving 
the idea of a burning-hot fluid thrown into the system. It 
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