Note 105 — CHAP. VI. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERNAL PARTS OF INSECTS, AND MORE PARTICULARLY OF THE CATERPILLAR OF THE PHALÆNA COSSUS—-A DESCRIPTION OF SUNDRY MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS.
Reading edition
According to Aldrovandus, this insect was not unknown to Aristotle, who mentions it as being found in books and paper. Wolphius, on the authority of Gesner, says that a few are to be met with in some parts of Switzerland. Scaliger also notices it, having found two of them in his books. It has been by various systematic writers referred to different genera; De Geer has instituted a new genus for it under the name of chelifer; Fabricius has remanded it to that of scorpio, to which perhaps it is more nearly allied than any other.
Amongst the number of naturalists who have observed and described the insect, it appears rather extraordinary that none have met with one similar to that in the plate, in respect to the break in the claws. In a cabinet of curious microscopic objects which I purchased several years since, and which originally came from Holland, there were four of them in the most perfect condition. A botanical friend, Mr. Young, also favoured me with a living one which he found among some plants collected by him in one of his excursions; but, as his box contained a variety of plants, and he did not discover the insect till his return, it was impossible to ascertain the particular one on which it was taken. All these resembled the one here exhibited, excepting the claws being longer and more slender, and being deficient in the distinguishing characteristic; I have lately seen another, in which the two fangs that are shewn highly magnified in Plate 85 of the Naturalist’s Miscellany, are very apparent, being so large, as to exceed in diameter the thickest part of the claws.
My respectable friend, Matthew Yatman, Esq. informs me, that some years since one was found on a bottle of wine packed in saw-dust, at the house in which he then resided in Percy street; on putting the point of a pin towards it to remove it from the bottle, it ran backward, put itself into an attitude of defence, and opened its claws as meditating vengeance. In the same cellar one had many years previous been discovered, sufficiently large to admit its being fastened to a card with thread by a young gentleman, being at least four times the usual size.
Rösel says it dwells among paper, in old books and their bindings, in chests of drawers, and in the crevices of old buildings. In order to discover whether the insect possessed a sting, he often by various means endeavoured to irritate it; but it never shewed the smallest inclination to defend itself, on the contrary, it always endeavoured to avoid a contest; if so, it evidently appears that those few met with in this country are of a more bold and warlike disposition.
Seba asserts that these insects resemble the large scorpions, the tail excepted, which is small, and usually concealed by being drawn close to the under part of the abdomen; but in this respect he must probably have been mistaken, as it does not appear that this circumstance has been noticed by any other person. Edit.