The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-12
SCORPIONS AND oENr1pEDEs.
Their Sings Are Not Dangerous AS
Is Popularly Believed.


s ens sFrom the Washington Star.
i Don't believe that the sting of
anv scorpion would kill human being,
save, perhaps, under extraordinary con-
ditions. In southern ATTITUDES wounds of
any kind are more dangerous than in
coolor climates, and the setting in of fever
may produce fatal results"
The speaker was DIR. George Marx of
Washington, who is recognized as the
greatest authority on arachnids in this
country.
scorpions are tropical animals he
added. They do not get very far north.
They live under the bark of long-leaved
pines in the northern part of their range,
and inasmuch as trees of that kind do
not occur in this vicinity, they find no
suitable domicile hereabouts. Such pines
grow in Baltimore county, Maryland, and
so a species of scorpion exists there. II
is yellow, with brown stripes, and meas
ures about two inches in length.
The biggest scorpions in the world are
those of India, which attain a length of
six inches. In California scorpions four
and One-half inches long are found. They
are the largest that occur in America.
Between them and the smallest species
are many. The sting or a small one is
about as severe as that of wasp, and the
effects of it soon pass,
1.-The scorpion carries its tail over its
back, and snaps it backward for the pur-
pose of int1icting a sting 1t has Two
poison glands, side by SIDE in the last
Joint of its tail II is said that the scor-
themselves to death when they are put
into circle of burning charcoal | don't
know whether this is true or not. The
question has not been cleared up
Scorpions live on beetle larvae and
slow-ruunlng insects. They conceal them
selves under the bark of trees in the day
time, and pursue their prey at night The
whip-tailed ScorpiOns-So called because
of a peculiar appendage, of which the
use is not known-are not poisonous. For
the purpose of defense they squirt fine
streams of fluid that smells like Yenegar.
Doubtless, it is offensive to some of their
enemies
Every now and then one reads in the
newspapers frightful story about cen
tipede. According to these accounts. the
animal is just bit more dangerous than
a rattlesnake. Not only is its bite fatal,
but it carries poison in the little claws
with which its numerous legs are termi-
mated. Crawling over mans bare flesh
it burns like fire. The move is death, for
then the creature will dig its envenomed
feet into the victim. who will presently be
reduced to the condition of loathsome
and bloated corpse.
All of this is purest fable.
An expert in centipedes is attached to
the Smithsonian Institution He knows
all about the creatures, and he says that
the bite of one of these animals is less
poisonous than the sting of the scorpion
That it could ever kill anybody is most
unlikely. The claws are sharp and I'M
pleasant to the feel when a contipede
walks over the bare skin, but they have
no venom. .
There are two distinct types of cent?
pedes. One of them may be termed the
true centipede type, with fiat body and
only one pair of legs on each segment.
The largest forms are all poisonous
Whether the smallest ones are so is unde-
termined. The Jaws of this kind of cent?
pede are perforated by channels which
convey the poison into the wound made
by the bite. The action is somewhat the
same as in the case of a venomous SER
pent.
The other type of centipede is built on
the thousand-leg plan, and attains a
length of two inches. The biggest in this
part of the world will not exceed FIVE
inches. 1t has four legs to each segment,
and sometimes as many as sixty-fVe seq
ments! 1t is easy to count up how many
legs that makes. Though not as many as
L
of centipede is never poisonous. Cent?
pedes feed on rotten wood and other de-
caying vegetable material They live in
the ground and among rotten leaves and
wood.
In some parts of the world centipedes
are regarded with superstitious vencra-
ton. A friend of the writer once visited
Buenos Ayres, and engaged a room at a
boarding house. He found eight large
centipedes in his quarters before he went
down to dinner. Having killed them, he
informed the landlady of the circum-
stance. She expressed the utmost grief
and declared that the destruction of the
creatures would take away all good luck
from her establishment for eight years to
come-one year for each centipede.
Centipedes, as well as great spiders, are
sometimes brought to this country from
the tropics with fruit. They are often
found hidden in lunches of bananas.
Scorpions make the voyage in the same
way. A naval officer told the Star
writer that in warm latitudes big scor-
pions are apt TO get on board ship, and
conceal themselves in shoes or other gar
ments. 1t is not pleasant TO put ones arm
in the sleeve of a coat and find an unlock
ed-for scorpion there The arachmid, if a
fresh intruder, is likely to be very much
more poisonous and its bite correspond
ingly more severe than after it has been
on the vessel for a while