square. Of these, the two middle ones are so large, as to be capable of being set in the manner of glasses, and used as microscopes: the rest are smaller, and of an oval shape. The thorax is orbicular, and has a transverse central excavation.

In Jamaica there is a kind of spider*, the female of which digs a hole in the earth obliquely downward, about three inches in length, and one inch in diameter; this cavity she lines with a tough, thick web, which, when taken out, resembles a leathern purse; but what is most curious, this house has a door with hinges, like the operculum of some sea-shells; and herself and family, who tenant this nest, open and shut the door whenever they pass or repass.

In some places in the forests of Java, the webs of spiders have been found, woven with threads of so strong a texture, as not easily to be divided without a knife.

Dampier informs us, that at Campeachy, in New Spain, there" is a sort of spiders of prodigious size, some nearly as big as a man's fist, with long and slender legs, like the spiders in England. They have two fangs, each an inch and a half long, and of a proportionable thickness, which are black as jet, smooth as glass, and at their small end as sharp as a thorn: these are not straight, but bending. Some persons wear them in their tobacco-pouches, to pick their pipes with; others preserve them for tooth-picks, especially such as are troubled with the tooth-ache; for, if report may be trusted, they will expel that pain. The backs of these spiders are covered with a dark yellowish down, as soft as velvet. Some say they are venomous, and others that they are not; but which of these accounts is to be credited I cannot determine."

* Aranea nidulans. Linn. Gmel.

OF THE SCORPION TRIBE*.

Scorpions may be considered as the most malignant and poisonous of all known insects. Their poison is emitted through three very small holes in the sting, one on each side of the tip, and the other on the upper part. In California there is a species, the Scorpio Americanus, which is eaten by the inhabitants.

These animals prey on worms and insects, and frequently even on one another. Their offspring are produced from eggs, of which one female lays a considerable number. After their appearance, they seem to undergo no further change than perhaps casting their skin from time to time, in the same manner as spiders.

THE COMMON SCORPION+.

In some parts of Italy and France these animals are among the greatest pests that can plague mankind; but in those countries of the East, where they grow to a foot in length, there is no removing a piece of furniture, with

The Scorpions have each eight legs, besides two claws, not unlike those of a crab. They have also eight eyes, three of which are placed on each side of the thorax, and two in the middle. On the anterior part of the head they have two short claw-like feelers; but no antennæ. And on the under side, between the breast and the abdomen, are two instruments, that have some resemblance to a comb. The tail is long, jointed, and terminated by a sharp, crooked sting, from which is emitted a pungent liquid, not dangerous, except in the very hot climates.

+ See Plate xix. Fig. 12.

DESCRIPTION. This, like other Scorpions, has a distant resemblance in shape to the lobster, but it is infinitely more ugly. The head appears, as it were, jointed to the breast; and the mouth is furnished with two jaws; the under one of which is divided into two, and the parts, notched into each other, answer the purpose of teeth in breaking the food. On each side of the head there is a four-jointed arm, terminated by a claw, somewhat like that of a lobster. The belly is divided into seven segments, from the lowest of which the tail commences: this,

out danger of being stung by them. There, we are told, they are nearly as large as small lobsters.

Many experiments have been made to ascertain the strength of their poison; and, in warm climates, it has uniformly been found fatal to small animals. To man the wound is extremely painful. The place becomes inflamed, and the surrounding parts often turn livid, and require to be carefully dressed in order to prevent mortification.

We are informed, that when a Scorpion is surrounded by burning coals or wood, so as not to be able to escape, it will strike its sting into its own body and destroy itself: but this seems merely a legend, undeserving of belief.

M. Navarette says, that, when he was in the Philippine islands, he was instructed in an infallible preservative against the sting of Scorpions. The reader will smile, when he is told that this consisted only in making a commemoration of St. George, every night when he went to bed. "I continued," says he," this devotion many years; and, God be praised, the saint always delivered me, both there, and in other countries, from those and such like insects." He, however, afterwards observes, that he used another preventive, that of rubbing his bed all round with garlic, to keep the Scorpions at a distance."

This creature, which is but too common about old houses, and in dry or decayed walls, in all hot countries, is extremely bold and watchful. At the approach of an enemy, it seldom exhibits any signs of fear, but with its tail erect, and sting in readiness, as if fully confident in the force of its poison, it waits the attack with courage and intrepidity, and seldom desists till either it is itself killed or its foe is put to flight.

in the present species, is armed with a hard, pointed, and crooked sting, the poison of which is very powerful.

SYNONYMS. Scorpio Afer. Linn.-Le Scorpion d'Afrique. Tigny.

OF THE CRAB TRIBE*.

They

These animals live chiefly in the sea; some, however, inhabit the fresh waters, and a few live on land. feed variously, on aquatic or marine plants, small fish, molluscæ, or dead bodies. The females carry their ova under their tail, which, for that purpose, is, in general, much broader than that of the males.

The animals emphatically denominated Crabs, have a short, flat tail, bent close to the body in a hollow betwixt the legs. The Hermit-crabs have a soft tail, without any crustaceous covering: this they fit into empty shells, or hollow stones. In the Lobsters the tail is the principal part of the body, being a very strong member, and employed with great advantage both in swimming and leaping. This is formed of six convex segments, which lie over each other, somewhat like the tiles of a house, and are terminated by five laminæ, or thin plates. The former are united by loose membranes, which admit of much motion. At the angle where the upper and lower parts join, these segments are furnished with a kind of crustaceous fins, bordered with hair, and consisting of several articulations, called by naturalists pedes natatorii. The fins are moved, backward and forward, and a little outward and inward, by small muscles, contained within each articulation. By means of these it is that the animals have their progressive motion at different depths in the water.

Most of the Crabs have eight legs, (a few, however, have six or ten,) besides two large claws, which serve the purposes of hands. They have two eyes, situated on tubercles projecting from the head, and moveable in any direction. When the extremities of these are viewed with a glass, they are found to be composed of a multi

*All the animals of this tribe have their bodies covered with a hard and strong shell. The head is united to the thorax or breast without any joint.

tude of lenses, like the eyes of insects. For a sense of touch, these animals are furnished with antennæ, and palpi, or feelers. They have likewise a heart, with arterial and venous vessels, and branchiæ or gills for respiration. Their jaws are transverse, strong, and numerous; and the stomach is furnished with internal teeth.

THE LAND-CRAB *.

Land-crabs are natives of the Bahamas, and of most of the other islands between the tropics. They live in the clefts of rocks, the hollows of trees, or in holes which they dig for themselves in the mountains. About the months of April and May in every year, they descend in a body of some millions at a time, to the sea-coast, to deposit their spawn, and at this season the whole ground seems alive with them. They march in a direct line to their place of destination, and are said seldom to turn out of their way on account of intervening obstacles. Even if they encounter a lofty wall, or a house, they will attempt to scale it. If they arrive at a river, they wind along the course of the stream.

They are as regular in their procession as an army under the direction of an experienced commander, being generally divided into three battalions. The first of these consists of the strongest males, which march forward to clear the route and face the greatest dangers. The main body is composed of females, which are sometimes formed into columns fifty or sixty yards broad,

DESCRIPTION. The largest of these animals measure about six inches across the body. They vary in colour, but are commonly of a blackish violet colour: some are entirely black, others yellow or red, and others variegated. They are distinguished from other species of Crabs by having the first joint of the legs spinous, and the second and third furnished with tufts of hair.

SYNONYMS. Cancer Ruricola. Linn.-Violet Crab.-Ocypode Ruricule. Ocipoda Ruricula. Latreille.