Note IV'-34 — Chapter IV · OBSERVATIONS ON NEW SPAIN.[IV'-1]

Before undertaking to answer this query, it would be well to ascertain the fact. The scorpions which Pike describes are known by the Spanish name alacran, and I presume are closely related to the widely distributed Androctonus biaculeatus, if not the same species. Kendall's Narrative of the Texan Expedition of 1841, pub. Lond., 1845, II. p. 114, cites Pike in this connection, and also has: "I believe that the city of Durango is somewhat celebrated for the beauty and talent of its women—I know that it is noted for the numbers and venomous qualities of its alicrans, or scorpions. Frequently, while travelling through the State of Durango, were we regaled with Mexican stories of the swarms of poisonous alicrans which infest the capital.... A bounty of some three or six cents ... is paid by the authorities for each insect secured, and according to some of the stories told us, no inconsiderable business is carried on in catching and bottling the much dreaded scorpions." When Gregg was in Durango, March, 1835, he noted that city "as being the headquarters, as it were, of the whole scorpion family. During the spring, especially, so much are the houses infested by these poisonous insects, that many people are obliged to have resort to a kind of mosquito bar, in order to keep them out of their beds at night. As an expedient to deliver the city from this terrible pest, a society has already been formed, which pays a reward of a cuartilla (three cents) for every alacran (or scorpion) that is brought to them. Stimulated by the desire of gain, the idle boys of the city are always on the look-out; so that, in the course of a year, immense numbers of this public enemy are captured and slaughtered. The body of this insect is of the bulk and cast of a medium spider, with a jointed tail one or two inches long, at the end of which is a sting whose wounds are so poisonous as often to prove fatal to children, and are very painful to adults. The most extraordinary peculiarity of these scorpions is, that they are far less dangerous in the north than in the south, which in some manner accounts for the story told Capt. Pike, that even those of Durango lose most of their venom as soon as they are removed a few miles from the city," says Gregg, very sensibly, Comm. Pra., II. 1844, p. 89. Hughes, Doniphan Exp., p. 128: "the soldiers would sometimes shake their blankets, toss ... the lizards and alacrans, exclaiming angrily, 'd——n the scorpion family!'"