4.2 
fatisfy me, fince his defcription of the uterus 
and its oviducts is not fufficiently exact; nor 
does he take any notice of the place where the 
oviducts are connected with the uterus, and 
form one common excretory duct. I fhould 
likewife be glad that the extremities of the 
oviducts had been examined by him, ana that 
he had defcribed the rudiments of the eggs 
contained in them. He {fhould have told us, 
what that oblong thread is of which he makes 
mention, and which was doubtlefs one of the 
oviducts. 'The membrane, likewife, which 
feparated the Scorpions from one another in 
the oviduct, could be no other than the mem- 
brane which covers the fcetus of this infed, 
and ought indeed to be called the proper egg 
of the Scorpions. It is probable that he found 
this egg in the extremities of two oviduéts ; 
though his words import, that there was only 
one oviduct, which he calls an oblong thread ; 
which feems to me fcarce probable, fince we 
are taught the contrary from the analogy there 
is between the uterus’ and oviduéts in all in- 
fe&s. And when he makes mention of a par- 
tition, which, like a very fine film, feparated 
the young Scorpions, he feems in that place 
to divide an oviduct: but the author, inge- 
nious as he is, {peaks here fo perplexedly and 
obfcurely, that it feems as if he intended to 
propofe an enigma for fome future A‘dipus. 
I am perfectly fatisfied that Scorpions, which 
I have never known to be refered to any order, 
ought to be inferted in the firft of my plan, 
with this difference only, that they are brought 
forth alive ; whereas the Loufe only lays eggs 
or nits, from which its young afterwards pro- 
ceed. . The Scorpion is, therefore, like “the 
viviparous Snail, which excludes its eggs in 
its own body, and afterwards brings forth its 
young alive, but. at different times and in- 
tervals ; whereas the Scorpion has thirty-eight 
young ones together at one birth, which after- 
wards, by degrees, increafe and grow bigger. 
As the true figure of the Scorpion has not 
yet been given by any perfon, that I know of, 
I fhall here reprefent their natural fhape. And 
that I may the more accurately execute this, 
I fhall divide the Scorpion into the head, 
breaft, and belly. The Scorpion’s head feems 
jointed, as it were, to the breaft, as I have 
found in all the dried Scorpions that I have 
feen hitherto. In the middle of the breaft, or 
in the head connected to it, are two eyes ; and 
a little further towards the fore parts, there is 
likewife another pair of eyés, placed as it were 
in the forepart of the head. Under thefe are 
obferved two fhort arms, forceps or pinchers, 
Tab. HI. fig. 1. a4, which the Scorpion, doubt- 
lefs, makes the fame ufe of as others animals 
do of their teeth, and with which it breaks its 
food, and thruftsit into its mouth. Thefe four 
fhort forceps, and the four eyes above them, 
have never, to the beft of my knowledge, been _ 
obferved or defcribed by any perfon, but 
hitherto entirely neglected. ‘The Scorpion can 
at pleafure put back thefe forceps or teeth 
The 2BeOrO Ie tof GIN) Tia UR caors 
into its mouth, fo that none of them may be 
feen. 
Under the breaft are eight articulated legs 
6b, each divided into fix joints, the two hind- 
moft of which are each provided with two 
crooked claws, and the legs have here and 
there fome hairs. At the foremoft extremity 
of the head are two flagella or whips, or crooked 
arms like pincers cc, compofed of four joints, 
the outmoft whereof is fortified, as it were, 
with'a thumb, by the contra@tion of which 
the forceps is formed. This joint is thick and 
ftrong, and contains ftout mufcles, as we 
likewife obferve in the claws of Lobfters. The 
belly is divided into feven little rings d, from 
the loweft of which arifes a tail compofed of 
fix joints, which are briftly and formed like 
little globes ¢ ; the laft of thefe joints is armed 
with an aculeus f, or fting. 
Dr. Redi fays, he faw that the Scorpion 
difcharged a very {mall drop of water through 
the fting in its tail; which I fhould eafily be- 
lieve, fince the poifon infufed by Bees through 
their fting into a wound, likewife confifts of 
a very clear liquor. And this makes me fut 
pect that the external fting of the Scorpion, 
in like manner as in Bees, is no more than 
the fheath, wherein the true aculeus or fting 
is concealed. I once undertook to examine 
this matter in a dried Scorpion, but fince the 
loweft ring of the tail, from which the fting 
hangs, became hard as a horn by drying; I 
could not accomplifh my defign according to 
my wifhes. I obferved therein, however, two 
{mall tubes, which feemed to endin afacculus . 
or little bag, that carried, I fuppofe, the poi- 
fon, and had on the fore part two aculei or 
{tings ; but all thefe things were fo confufed, 
that I would not prefume to affirm any thing 
certain concerning them. If I had had the 
Scorpion alive at that time, and ready at my 
hand, it would have been very eafly to have 
clearly difcovered this matter. 
In another kind of Scorpion, fig. 11. I faw 
that the two foremoft crooked arms aa differed 
very much from thofe which I have before 
defcribed ; for the forceps were, in compa- 
rifon to the former, very fmall, and ended in 
a fharp point, On the fore part of the head 
were, like thefe, two forceps or teeth before- 
mentioned; and above thefe on either fide 
were three eyes, fo that there were fix in all. 
In all other particulars it was like the former 
Scorpion; unlefs that in the reft of its limbs 
there was here and there fome very flight dif- 
ference, as is feen in the figure. This little 
Scorpion was very delicate, and it may be 
eafily known, from the fmallnefs of the for- 
ceps, that this kind have lefs ftrength than 
thofe of the former; but then the longer they 
are, the more conveniently they can take hold 
of their food. 
As the larger the animals are, we can attain 
to the more accurate knowledge of them; I 
fhall now reprefent again, in a very large Scor- 
pion, all the parts which I have defcribed . 
: the 
