316 POPULAR SORIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

etc. is food consists of ground-beetles, cockroaches, and
other insects of that nature, which are first wounded by the
sting, and then conveyed to the mouth; the eggs of spiders
are also a favourite food. Scorpions run very quickly,
using their long tail both as an offensive and defensive
weapon. The general size of the European species is not
more than two or three inches, and the sting scarcely more
severe than that of the hornet, being only fatal where the
body is predisposed to disease; but in tropical climates,
where these creatures are found twelve inches long (as those
in Batavia), or, according to Bosman, as large as a lobster,
on the Gold Coast, they are most formidable enemies, and
their sting invariably fatal.

The dread with which the scorpion is still regarded in
the East is a sufficient commentary on the well-known pas-
sage in the 2nd book of Chronicles, ch. x., where Rehoboam,
the son of Solomon, made the imprudent and cruel answer
to his people, which caused the revolt of Israel from the
house of David; and though of course used in a figurative
sense, the scorpion (probably the Scorpio afen) must have
been well known and much dreaded, for the threat to have
been made in this form by the king: “My father made
your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto; my father chastised