186 
LITTLE FOLKS 
lived in India, where Scorpions are very numerous, tried the experi- 
ment of putting one inside of a circle of fire. The unfortunate 
little fellow could not endure the light, and could not go through 
the fire ; so, after running about a little, and finding himself a fast 
prisoner, he deliberately raised his tail — in which is his sting — and 
stung himself in the back, and died in a few minutes. 
This was tried a good many times on different Scorpions, and 
the plucky little fellows never failed to kill themselves when they 
found they could not get out. 
^ Disagreeable as they are to us, they have a use, for they eat 
millions of insects, and eggs of insects and spiders, that would be 
even more troublesome than the Scorpions. 
