Scorpion

“ But see!—the scorpion, brave wretch! with a gladiator's fortitude, loosens the shameful coil in which its last agonies have twisted it, fiercely erects its head once more, lashes defiantly with its tail, and then—click! ”

“ 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 very painful nature. ”

“ The dreadful sea scorpion, that fury incarnate, with malice expressed in the spines of its face, whose swimming limbs are claws, but more for torturing than for attack or defense, lying on one side pining for enjoyment, and caressing his own body with his slimy tail. ”

“ When disturbed, out it pounces, with an angry snap of the claws and a savage whisk of the tail, ready for some mischief, you may be sure.
"Ah, I wish I was a scorpion, instead of a mere ordinary spider! But then every one cannot be great, after all.
"Well, even the scorpion is foolish sometimes, as I will presently tell you. It lives in burrows, which it digs in the ground, the entrance being formed to the exact size of the insect. By the shape of the hole people discover the residence, and, when they wish to destroy the inmate, they pour some water down, to see if the scorpion is at home. ”

“ 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 unceremoniously introduced itself into my bed. ”

“ He does not hunt his quarry: he gathers it in. There is neither hurry nor contest, no movement of the tail, no use of the poisoned weapon. The Scorpion placidly grabs the morsel with his two-fingered hands; the pincers bend back, carry it to the mouth and then both hold it until it is all consumed. The insect that is being eaten, full of life, struggles between the mandibles, to the resentment of the eater, who likes to nibble quietly. ”

“ Under the head of what may be called domestic folk-lore, I must content myself with a Greek cure for the sting of a scorpion and a couple of Roman superstitions relative to child-birth. If a man has been stung by a scorpion, the Geoponica recommends that he should sit on an ass with his face to the tail, or whisper in the ass’s ear, “A scorpion has stung me.” In either case, we are assured, the pain will pass from the man into the ass. ”

“ When you raise the stone you expose the scorpion, which runs to and fro in its now roofless burrow, and, if it has sunk a hole, eventually dives down into that, sometimes tail first. If you irritate these scorpions, they tilt the hind part of the body forward and up by straightening their hind legs under it; then jerking it quickly and stridulating angrily, they rush at you; and most ugly creatures they are—all nippers and sting. The stridulating sound is produced by rubbing the jaws which are lined with short, stiff, yellow hairs against the front edge of the head-plate. ”

“ Chapter III. The Sign SCORPIO. The Redeemer's Conflict.
We come now right into the heart of the conflict. The star-picture brings before us a gigantic scorpion endeavouring to sting in the heel a mighty man who is struggling with a serpent, but is crushed by the man, who has his foot placed right on the scorpion's heart.
The Hebrew name is Akrab, which is the name of a scorpion, but also means the conflict, or war. It is this that is referred to in Ps. xci. 13:
“Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder. ”

“ In a serpent's form the devil deceived Adam; and he is now ever striving against our faith: but our protection is in the hand of our Father. The scorpion, which is set in opposition to the egg, is venomous, and stings with its tail to death. Those things which we see in this life are perishable; those which we see not, and which are promised to us are eternal: stretch thereto thy hope, and wait until thou have them. Look not behind; dread the scorpion which envenoms with its tail. The man looks behind, who despairs of God's mercy; then is his hope envenomed by the scorpion's tail. ”

“ The large pincers are studded with highly sensitive tactile hairs, and the moment an insect touches these he is promptly seized by the pincers and stung to death, the scorpion's tail being swiftly brought over his back and the sting thrust into the struggling prey. Paralysis rapidly follows, and, when dead, the insect is pulled to pieces by the small nippers and its soft tissues sucked into the scorpion's mouth. Scorpions vary in size from about 1 in. to 8 in.; and the amount of poison instilled into a wound depends principally upon the size of the animal. ”

“ For the same prudent reason the tail is carried aloft, over the scorpion’s back, when it walks, so that the whole organ, but especially the point of it, which is curled round again underneath, is preserved from contact with the outer world. The sting, or rather the sides of the poison vesicle just above it, are clothed with hairs, which are, no doubt, delicately tactile, and the same may be said of the tail and various other parts of the body. Touch, indeed, is the principal sense which conveys impressions to the soul of the scorpion. Sight is defective, and hearing does not seem to exist. ”

“ Those passages which mention the venom of the Scorpion are numerous, though most, if not all, of them occur in the New Testament. See Rev. ix. 5: "And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man." Also ver. 10 of the same chapter: "And they had tails like unto scorpions: and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months."
There is, also, the well-known saying of our Lord, "If a son shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?" ”

“ The scorpion, or okrab of the Hebrews, has also been invested by Oriental naturalists with the power of flying. Lucian tells us that there are two kinds of scorpions, one residing on the ground, large, having claws, and many articulations at the tail; the other flies in the air, and has inferior wings like locusts, beetles, and bats. In tropical climates the scorpion is a foot in length. No animal in the creation seems endowed with such an irascible nature. When caught, they exert their utmost rage against the glass which contains them ”

“ Extremely short-sighted and squinting outrageously, how does the Scorpion manage to steer himself? Like a blind man, he gropes his way: he guides himself with his hands, that is to say, his pincers, which he carries outstretched, with the fingers open, to sound the space before him. Watch two Scorpions wandering in the open air in my rearing-cages. A meeting would be disagreeable, sometimes even dangerous for them. Nevertheless, the one behind always goes ahead as though he did not perceive his neighbour ”

“ The pincers are inoffensive, despite their menacing aspect; it is the sting with which the end of the tail is armed that is venomous. The scorpion makes use of it in self-defense and to kill the insects on which it feeds. In the southern departments of France are found two different kinds of scorpions. One, of a greenish black, frequents dark and cool places and even establishes itself in houses. ”

“ Even a child who saw a scorpion once arch its back and prepare to strike with its reversed tail would instinctively understand that there was danger ahead, and would withdraw its hand before the venomous creature had time to pounce upon it.
Owing to these unamiable personal traits of the scorpion race, it is not popular among other animals. But to be feared is to be respected; and scorpions for the most part are left severely alone, under the stones where they love to lurk, by the various denizens of the districts they inhabit. ”

“ This was exaggerated, as most travelers' tales were in the early days, but I don't think at worst, that it is much more dangerous than the sting of a black hornet."
"Then you have scorpions down here too, haven't you? Are they as bad as they are supposed to be?"
"The main trouble with a scorpion is his vicious make-up," was the reply. "He's about the wickedest-looking proposition that ever came down the pike, but his bite is not fatal. One of the fellows with me one year had a little experience with a scorpion that made me think they are not as bad as they look. ”

“ We do not know how the palæostracan sea-scorpions breathed; they resemble the scorpion of the present day somewhat in form, but they are in many respects closely allied to Limulus. The present-day scorpion is a land animal, and the muscles by which he breathes are dorso-ventral somatic muscles, while those of Limulus are the appendage-muscles. ”

“ Those scorpions which live in ships are of a brown colour, and not dangerous; it is the large green scorpion, so common in the islands of East Africa, which you must be cautious in handling, for children, it is said, frequently die from the effects of this scorpion’s sting. ”

“ The body of the parent scorpion becomes the nest of the young ones, which remain sticking and feeding upon their mother until she dies, and all nurture is absorbed, when they fall off and shift for themselves ”

“ In order fully to understand his mode of procedure, however, I must first call your attention to another animal which really is what the Devil's Coach-horse mendaciously pretends to be: and that is the common scorpion. His mode of fighting is well known to most of us. In illustration No. 1 Mr. Enock has given us a delineation of a frantic death-struggle between such a scorpion and a large and powerful southern spider. ”

“ But the false scorpion may be considered rather as a bother than a serious trouble to the fly. His real troubles are too numerous to mention. His life, as most of my readers will be glad to learn, is not a bed of roses, as is commonly supposed. Just think for a moment what a fly's existence must be. With the deadly fly-paper on the one hand, the continual danger of being cemented into a pellet of pulp in the maw of a hornet, or impaled on the beak of his murderous relative the "Laphria-fly," or snapped up by birds, toads, snakes, he certainly has abundant use for that head full of eyes of his. ”

“ It is said that when a scorpion is surrounded by a circle of burning coals or wood, and begins to feel the heat, it runs about to seek some mode of escape, but finding none, it stings itself and immediately dies. ”

“ The scorpion is a solitary fish, and feeds on seaweed. But, in the fifth book of his Parts of Animals, Aristotle speaks of scorpions and scorpides in different places; but it is uncertain whether he means the same fish; because we ourselves have often eaten the scorpæna and the scorpion, and there is no one who does not know that both their juice and their meat are quite different. ”

“ The blackness was spangled with watching, diamond eyes!—with tiny insect eyes that moved; upon the floor, upon the walls, upon the ceiling! A choking cry rose to my lips.
"Smith! Barton! for God's sake, look! The place is alive with scorpions!"
Around we all came, panic plucking at our hearts, around swept the beam of the big lamp; and there, retreating before the light, went a veritable army of venomous creatures! I counted no fewer than three of the giant red centipedes whose poisonous touch, called "the zayat kiss," is certain death; several species of scorpion were represented ”

“ The Scorpion, for that matter, is almost always in this position: whether in motion or at rest, he arches his tail over his back. He very rarely drags it behind him, relaxed into a straight line.
The pincers, those buccal hands recalling the claws of the Crayfish, are organs of battle and of information. When moving forwards, the Scorpion holds them in front of [10] him, with the two fingers opened, to take stock of objects encountered on the way. When he wants to stab an enemy, the pincers seize the foe and hold him motionless, while the sting is brought into play over the assailant’s back. ”

“ A man who has often been stung becomes at last insensible to the poison.
Many a time I have found scorpions in Asiatic huts, in my tent, on my bed, and under my boxes, but I have never been stung by one. On the other hand, it has been the fate of many of my servants, and they told me that it was difficult to find out where the scorpion had stung them, for their bodies sweated and burned equally intensely all over. In Eastern Turkestan it is the practice to catch the scorpion which has stung a man and crush him into a paste, which is laid over the puncture made by the sting. ”

“ One night, when this man Elpidius was reciting the service, now we were with him, a scorpion stung him, and he crushed the insect, without either leaving the place where he was or being in any way moved as a man usually is when he is suffering from the sting of a scorpion. ”

“ But the sea-mullet is superior to the other, both in taste and in nutritious qualities. But the scorpions have purging qualities, are easy of secretion, very juicy, and very nutritious; for they are a cartilaginous fish." The scorpion brings forth its young twice a-year, as Aristotle tells us, in the fifth book of his Parts of Animals. ”

“ The scorpion detests water; and it no sooner feels the stream trickling through the opening, than out it rushes, to see what is the matter. To drive a spade into the hole and kill the scorpion is then an easy task. ”

“ This last animal is also dangerous to all other creatures, except those which, like itself, are destitute of blood: in figure it strongly resembles the common lizard. For the most part, also, the scorpion does no injury to any animal which is bloodless. Some writers, too, are of opinion that the scorpion devours its offspring, and that the one among the young which is the most adroit avails itself of its sole mode of escape, by placing itself on the back of the mother, and thus finding a place where it is in safety from the tail and the sting. ”