Suicide of Scorpions

Abstract

SPEAEKING of scorpion suicide, Mr. G. J. Romanes in his “Animal Intelligence writes:” Still I think that so remarkable a fact unquestionably demands further corroboration before we shall be justified in accepting it unreservedly” (p. 225). Some years ago I made some experiments and observations on a smaller and a larger species of scorpion found on the Cape Peninsula. I am unable to ascertain the specific names; the smaller are found beneath the bark of decaying tree-stumps, the larger, which often weigh upwards of seventy grains, are found beneath stones and ant-balls. I have recently resumed these experiments and observations. The conclusion I come to is that neither of these species have any suicidal instinct. Only in one case have I found, after death, any sign of such a wound as the sling might inflict; in this case, though one of the tergal plates showed a largish irregular fracture, the wound did not seem a fresh one, and was dry and apparently skinned over; in this case, too, though I watched the death of the scorpion (caused by the gradual application of heat to the bottom of the glass vessel in which the creature was inclosed), I was not able to detect anything like the act of suicide. I will now briefly describe the nature of my experiments.