After mating, the male was often devoured by the female. Moreover, after any combat with an enemy, such as a _Lycosa_ or a _Scolopendra_, it appeared to be _de rigueur_ to eat the vanquished, and on such occasions only was any considerable amount of food consumed. The scorpions were not, however, anxious to fight, greatly preferring to retire if possible; but when incited to combat, their sting was quickly fatal to any mature insect, to spiders and to centipedes. Curiously enough, however, insect larvae, though badly wounded, did not succumb to the poison. Newly-hatched scorpions mounted on the mother’s back, where they remained motionless for a week, entirely unfed. They then underwent a moult, after which they were able to forage for themselves. =External Structure.= The chitinous plates of the prosoma are fused to form a carapace. Six segments are clearly indicated by the six pairs of appendages, but, though the development of _Scorpio_ affords little direct evidence of the fact, there is reason to believe that there once existed a pre-cheliceral segment,[241] as has been clearly proved in the case of the spiders. An embryonic pregenital segment has also been recognised. The six prosomatic appendages are those proper to the Arachnida, being the chelicerae, pedipalpi, and four pairs of ambulatory legs. The mesosoma, which is broadly attached to the prosoma, comprises six segments, indicated ventrally by the genital operculum, the pectines, and the four pairs of pulmonary stigmata. The last of the broad abdominal segments, which tapers abruptly, belongs to the metasoma, which also comprises six segments, and is succeeded by the post-anal spine or sting. =Prosoma.=—Near the middle of the carapace are two median eyes, and on its antero-lateral borders are usually to be found groups of smaller eyes, numbering from two to five. All the eyes are simple. There is a difference, however, in their development, the median eyes being _diplostichous_, or involving two layers of hypoderm, while the lateral eyes are _monostichous_, and pass through a stage strikingly like the permanent condition of the eyes of _Limulus_. The arrangement of various slight longitudinal ridges on the dorsal surface of the carapace is of systematic importance. On the ventral surface, just in front of the genital operculum, is a sternum, never large, and sometimes barely visible. Its shape and size constitute one of the principal family characteristics. [Illustration: FIG. 169.—_Buthus occitanus_. =A=, Dorsal view; =B=, ventral view. (After Kraepelin.) ] =Mesosoma.=—The dorsal plates or terga are distinct, and are connected by soft chitin with their corresponding sterna.