in zoology, a genus of insects belonging to the order of aptera. It has eight feet, besides two frontal claws; the eyes are eight in number, three on each side of the thorax, and two on the back. It has two claw-shaped palpi, a long jointed tail, with a pointed weapon at the extremity; it has likewise two combs situated betwixt the breast and abdomen. There are six species, all natives of southern climates.

Of all the classes of noxious insects the scorpion is the most terrible, whose shape is hideous, whose size among the insects is enormous, and whose sting is generally fatal. Happy for Britain, the scorpion is entirely a stranger among us! In several parts of the continent of Europe it is but too well known, though it seldom grows above four inches long; but in the warm tropical climates, it is seen a foot in length, and in every respect as large as a lobster, which it somewhat resembles in shape. There have been enumerated nine different kinds of this dangerous insect, including species and varieties, chiefly distinguished by their colour; there being scorpions yellow, brown, and ash-coloured; others that are the colour of rusty iron, green, pale yellow, black, claret colour, white, and grey. There are four principal parts distinguishable in this animal; the head, the breast, the belly, and the tail. The scorpion's head seems, as it were, jointed to the breast; in the middle of which are seen two eyes; and a little more forward, two eyes more, placed in the fore part of the head; those eyes are so small, that they are scarcely perceivable; and it is probable the animal has but little occasion for seeing. The mouth is furnished with two jaws; the undermost is divided into two, and the parts notched into each other, which serves the animal as teeth, and with which it breaks its food, and thrusts it into its mouth; there the scorpion can at pleasure pull back into its mouth, so that no part of them can be seen. On each side of the head are two arms, each composed of four joints; the last of which is large, with strong muscles, and made in the manner of a lobster's claw. Below the breast are eight articulated legs, each divided into five joints; the two hindmost of which are each provided with two crooked claws, and here and there covered with hair. The belly is divided into seven little rings; from the lowest of which is continued a tail, composed of six joints, which are brittle, and formed like little globes, the last being armed with a crooked sting. This is that fatal instrument which renders this insect so formidable: it is long, pointed, hard, and hollow; it is pierced near the base by two small holes, through which, when the animal stings, it ejects a drop of poison, which is white, caustic, and fatal. The reservoir in which this poison is kept, is in a small bladder near the tail, into which the venom is distilled by a peculiar apparatus. If this bladder be greatly pressed, the venom will be seen issuing out through the two holes above-mentioned; so that it appears, that when the animal stings, the bladder is pressed, and the venom issues through the two apertures into the wound.

We have here given the common account of the sting of these noxious animals; but though we cannot pretend to determine between them, we shall lay before our readers the following observations from a treatise on Tropical Diseases, &c., by Dr Mofeley of the Chelsea Hospital. "Galen justly observes, that a person who had not witnessed the fact, would not suppose that so small an injury as the sting of a scorpion, or the bite of a poisonous spider, could produce the violent effects which they do in the whole body. He says, the aculeus, or sting, of a scorpion ends in the minutest point: and has no perforation through which any poison can pass into the wound. Yet, he says, we must suppose the venom to be some spirituous substance, or moisture, in which a great power is concentrated in a small compass. Before I had an opportunity (says Dr Mofeley) of examining this subject, my respect for the opinion of Galen made me doubt the accuracy of Leeuwenhoek, Redi, Mead, and others, who assert that there is an aperture near the cuspis of a scorpion's sting; and that through this aperture a liquid poison is injected when a wound is inflicted. Repeated experiments, with the best glasses, have never enabled me to discover any foramen, or opening, whatever."

The following cure may also be worth the reader's notice. "Mrs Pidgeley, at Kingston in Jamaica, in January 1781, was stung by a scorpion in the foot, above the little toe. The part became instantly red and painful; and soon after livid. The pain increased to great severity. Some rum was applied to the wound, on which the pain immediately left the foot, and passed up to the groin, with great agony. The pain still passed upwards, and diffused itself about the pit of the stomach, neck, and throat, attended with tremors, cold sweats, and languors. As the pain passed the abdomen, it occasioned a violent purging and fainting, which ceased on its advancing higher. I was called to her, Dr Mofeley gave her the following medicines, a few doses of which removed every symptom. She had been extremely ill for thirty-six hours. B. Sal. Succin. 3ij.; Camphor. gr. xij.; Cinnabar. Antimon. gr. x.; Confit. Card. q. f. fiant boli fex. One of these was taken every hour, with four spoonfuls of the following mixture: B. Ag. Menthe 3 vij.; Elix. Paragoric. 3 ij.; Syr. Croci 3 ii.; Mifce." whom it resides. In some of the towns of Italy, and in France, in the province of Languedoc, it is one of the greatest pests that torments mankind; but its malignity in Europe is trifling, when compared to what the natives of Africa and the east are known to experience. In Batavia, where they grow twelve inches long, there is no removing any piece of furniture, without the utmost danger of being flung by them. Bofman affirms us, that along the Gold Coast they are often found larger than a lobster; and that their sting is inevitably fatal. In Europe, however, they are by no means so large, so venomous, or so numerous. The general size of this animal does not exceed two or three inches; and its sting is very seldom found to be fatal. Maupertius, who made several experiments on the scorpion of Languedoc, found it by no means invariably dangerous as had till then been represented. He provoked one of them to sting a dog, in three places of the belly where the animal was without hair. In about an hour after, the poor animal seemed greatly swollen, and became very sick; he then cast up whatever he had in his bowels; and for about three hours continued vomiting a whitish liquid. The belly was always greatly swollen when the animal began to vomit; but this operation always seemed to abate the swelling; which alternately swelled, and was thus emptied, for three hours successively. The poor animal after this fell into convulsions, bit the ground, dragged himself along upon his fore-feet, and at last died, five hours after being bitten. He was not partially swollen round the place which was bitten, as is usual after the sting of a wasp or a bee; but his whole body was inflated, and there only appeared a red spot on the places where he had been flung.

Some days after, however, the same experiment was tried upon another dog, and even with more aggravated cruelty: yet the dog seemed no way affected by the wounds; but, howling a little when he received them, continued alert and well after them; and soon after was set at liberty, without showing the smallest symptoms of pain. So far was this poor creature from being terrified at the experiment, that he left his own master's house, to come to that of the philosopher, where he had received more plentiful entertainment. The same experiment was tried by fresh scorpions upon seven other dogs, and upon three hens; but not the smallest deadly symptom was seen to ensue. From hence it appears, that many circumstances, which are utterly unknown, must contribute to give efficacy to the scorpion's venom. Whether its food, long fasting, the season, the nature of the vessels it wounds, or its state of maturity, contribute to or retard its malignity, is yet to be ascertained by succeeding experiment. In the trials made by our philosopher, he employed scorpions of both sexes, newly caught, and seemingly vigorous and active. The success of this experiment may serve to shew, that many of those boasted antidotes which are given for the cure of the scorpion's sting, owe their success rather to accident than their own efficacy. They only happened to cure when their sting was no way dangerous; but in cases of actual malignity, they might probably be utterly unserviceable.

The scorpion of the tropical climates being much larger than the former, is probably much more venomous. Helbigius, however, who resided for many years in the east, affirms us, that he was often flung by the scorpion, and never received any material injury from the wound; a painful tumor generally ensued; but he always cured it by rubbing the part with a piece of iron or stone, as he had seen the Indians practice before him, until the flesh became insensible. Seba, Moore, and Bofman, however, give a very different account of the scorpion's malignity; and affirm, that, unless speedily relieved, the wound becomes fatal.

It is certain, that no animal in the creation seems endowed with such an irascible nature. They have often been seen, when taken and put into a place of security, to exert all their rage against the sides of the glass vessel that contained them. They will attempt to sting a stick when put near them; and attack a mouse or a frog, while those animals are far from offering any injury. Maupertius put three scorpions and a mouse into the same vessel together, and they soon stung the little animal in different places. The mouse, thus assaulted, stood for some time upon the defensive, and at last killed them all, one after another. He tried this experiment, in order to see whether the mouse, after it had killed, would eat the scorpions; but the little quadruped seemed satisfied with the victory, and even survived the severity of the wounds it had received. Wolkamer tried the courage of the scorpion against the large spider, and inclosed several of both kinds in glass vessels for that purpose. The success of this combat was very remarkable. The spider at first used all its efforts to entangle the scorpion in its web, which it immediately began spinning; but the scorpion refused itself from the danger, by stinging its adversary to death; it soon after cut off, with its claws, all the legs of the spider, and then sucked all the internal parts at its leisure.—If the scorpion's skin had not been so hard, Wolkamer is of opinion that the spider would have obtained the victory; for he had often seen one of the spiders destroy a toad.

The fierce spirit of this animal is equally dangerous to its own species; for scorpions are the cruellest enemies to each other. Maupertius put about 100 of them together in the same glass; and they scarce came into contact when they began to exert all their rage in mutual destruction; there was nothing to be seen but one universal carnage, without any distinction of age or sex; so that in a few days there remained only 14, which had killed and devoured all the rest.

But their unnatural malignity is still more apparent in their cruelty to their offspring. He inclosed a female scorpion, big with young, in a glass vessel, and she was seen to devour them as fast as they were excluded; there was but one only of the number that escaped the general destruction, by taking refuge on the back of its parent; and this soon after revenged the cause of its brethren, by killing the old one in its turn.

Such is the terrible and unrelenting nature of this insect, which neither the bonds of society nor of nature can reclaim; it is even asserted, that, when driven to an extremity, the scorpion will often destroy itself. The following experiment was ineffectually tried by Maupertius: "But," says Mr Goldsmith, "I am so well assured of it by many eye-witnesses, who have seen it both in Italy and America, that I have no doubt remaining of its veracity. A scorpion, newly caught, is Scorpio, is placed in the midst of a circle of burning charcoal, and thus an egress prevented on every side: the scorpion, as I am assured, runs for about a minute round the circle, in hopes of escaping; but finding that impossible, it flings itself on the back of the head; and in this manner the undaunted suicide instantly expires."

It is happy for mankind that these animals are thus destructive to each other; since otherwise they would multiply in so great a degree as to render some countries uninhabitable. The male and female of this insect are very easily distinguishable; the male being smaller and less hairy. The female brings forth her young alive, and perfect in their kind. Redi having bought a quantity of scorpions, selected the females, which, by their size and roughness, were easily distinguishable from the rest, and putting them in separate glass vessels, he kept them for some days without food. In about five days one of them brought forth 38 young ones, well-shaped, and of a milk-white colour, which changed every day more and more into a dark rusty hue. Another female, in a different vessel, brought forth 27 of the same colour; and the day following the young ones seemed all fixed to the back and belly of the female. For near a fortnight all these continued alive and well; but afterwards some of them died daily; until, in about a month, they all died except two.

Were it worth the trouble, these animals might be kept living as long as curiosity should think proper. Their chief food is worms and insects; and upon a proper supply of these, their lives might be lengthened to their natural extent. How long that may be, we are not told; but if we may argue from analogy, it cannot be less than seven or eight years; and perhaps, in the larger kind, double that duration. As they have somewhat the form of the lobster, so they resemble that animal in casting their shell, or more properly their skin; since it is softer by far than the covering of the lobster, and let with hairs, which grow from it in great abundance, particularly at the jointings. The young lie in the womb of the parent, each covered up in its own membrane, to the number of 40 or 50, and united to each other by an oblong thread, so as to exhibit altogether the form of a chaplet.

Such is the manner in which the common scorpion produces its young; but there is a scorpion of America produced from the egg, in the manner of the spider. The eggs are no longer than pins points; and they are deposited in a web, which they spin from their bodies, and carry about with them, till they are hatched. As soon as the young ones are excluded from the shell, they get upon the back of the parent, who turns her tail over them, and defends them with her sting. It seems probable, therefore, that captivity produces that unnatural disposition in the scorpion which induces it to destroy its young; since, at liberty, it is found to protect them with such unceasing affluency. For the various modes of preventing the fatal consequences of the bites of these and other noxious animals, we refer to Mofeley's treatise above quoted.

Scorpio, Scorpion, in astronomy, the eighth sign of the zodiac denoted by the character m. See Astronomy.

Scorpion Fly. See Panorpa.

Scorpiurus, Caterpillars, in botany: A genus of the decandria order, belonging to the diadelphia clasps of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 3rd order, Papilionacea. The legumen is contracted by incisions on the inside betwixt every two seeds, revoluted round.

There are four species; the most remarkable of which is the vermiculata, a native of Italy and Spain. It is an annual plant, with trailing herbaceous stalks, which at each joint have a spatular-shaped leaf with a long foot-stalk. From the wings of the leaves come out the foot-stalks of the flowers, which sustain at the top one yellow butterfly flower, succeeded by a thick twisted pod having the size and appearance of a larger caterpillar, from whence it had this title. This has long been preferred in the gardens of this country, more on account of its odd shape than for any great beauty. It is propagated by sowing the seeds on a bed of light earth; and when the plants come up, they must be kept free from weeds and thinned, so that there may be a foot distance between them.

Scorzonerá, Viper-grass, in botany: A genus of the polygamia aequalis order, belonging to the syn-geneia clasps of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 49th order, Compositae. The receptacle is naked; the pappus plumy; the calyx imbricated, with scales membranaceous on their margins.

The most remarkable species is the hispanica, or common scorzonera, which is cultivated in the gardens of this country, both for culinary and medicinal purposes. The root is carrot-shaped, about the thickness of a finger, covered with a dark brown skin, is white within, and has a milky juice. The stalk rises three feet high, is smooth, branching at the top, and garnished with a few narrow leaves, whose base half embrace the stalk. The flowers are of a bright yellow colour, and terminate the stalks in scaly emplacements composed of many narrow tongue-shaped hermaphrodite florets lying imbricatim over each other like the scales of fish, and are of a bright yellow colour. After these are decayed, the germen, which sits in the common emplacements, turns to oblong cornered seeds, having a roundish ball of feathered down at the top. This plant is propagated by seeds; and must be carefully thinned and kept free from weeds, otherwise the plants will be weak.

The roots of scorzonera were formerly much celebrated for their alexipharmic virtues, and for throwing out the small-pox; but have now almost entirely lost their character; however, as they abound with an acid juice, they may sometimes be of use for strengthening the viscera, and promoting the fluid febrations.