I am aware that the phenomena now described have been observed by others, and they appear to have been familiarly known to the inhabitants of the district in which the animals are found. Sufficient confirmation of the facts is also to be found in the narratives of 'G. Biddie' and 'M. L.' contained in 'Nature,' vol. ix., pp. 29-47, and it will be observed that the circumstances leading the animal to self-destruction in these instances were somewhat similar to those narrated by my informant. It is abundantly clear, therefore, that the view taken by Mr. Hutchinson, viz., that the 'popular idea regarding scorpionic suicide is a delusion based on an impossibility,' is wholly untenable; indeed, the recurved direction of the sting, which he refers to as creating the impossibility of the animal destroying itself, actually facilitates the operation of inflicting the wound. I suppose Mr. Hutchinson, arguing from the analogy of bees or wasps, imagined that the sting would be bent forwards upon the body, whereas the wound of the scorpion is invariably inflicted by a recurvation of the tail over the back of the animal. It will be perceived that these observations were not made by Dr. Allen Thomson himself, and that there are certain inherent discrepancies in the account which he has published--such, for instance, as the reason given for trying and repeating the experiment, the method being clearly a cumbersome one to employ if the only object were that of 'disposing of' the animals. Nevertheless, as Dr. Thomson is a high authority, and as I learn from him that he is satisfied regarding the capability and veracity of his informant, I have not felt justified in suppressing his evidence. Still I think that so remarkable a fact unquestionably demands further corroboration before we should be justified in accepting it unreservedly. For if it is a fact, it stands as a unique case of an instinct detrimental alike to the individual and to the species. FOOTNOTES: [75] _Body and Mind_, p. 275. [76] _Nature_, xxiii., pp. 149-50. [77] _Naturalist on the Amazon_, p. 83. [78] For many other confirmations see Sir E. Tennent, _Nat. Hist. Ceylon_, pp. 468-69. [79] Kirby, vol. ii., p. 298. [80] Thompson, _Passions of Animals_, p. 145. [81] _Loc. cit._, p. 316 _et seq._ [82] _Hist. Habits and Inst. of Animals_, vol. ii. p. 296. [83] _Nature_, vol. xx., p. 581. [A] _Loc. cit._, p. 323. [84] _Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders_, p. 120. [85] 'The History and Habits of _Epeira aurelia_,' in _Annals and Mag. of Nat. Hist._ for June 1865. [86] _Harvesting Ants and Trap-door Spiders_, p. 126. This admirable work, with its appendix, contains a very full account of the whole economy of the interesting animals with which it is concerned. [87] _Loc. cit._, p. 319. [88] _Gleanings_, vol. i., p. 103.