The Biology of the Mecoptera

Marchblood, and they do not transmit disease, although I have several specimens of Panorpa lugubris from Nichols, South Carolina, which were held responsible by the inhabitants of the town during the fall of 1928 for an epidemic of fits among the dogs.Because of their seclusive habits the scorpion-flies appar- ently escaped the attention of the ancient and early medi- eval naturalists more persistently than most other types of insects.According to Figuier, Aristotle thought that the males of the Panorpidse were flying scorpions because they possessed a swollen bulb at the end of the abdomen resembling the poison sac of the true scorpions.But I consider that this statement is incorrect, for Aristotle was one of the few ancient naturalists who believed that scor- pions could not fly.:Pliny the Elder, however, quoting Appoloderus of Athens (144 B. C.) states in his "Natural History" that some scorpions have wings, and it is possible that these flying scorpions were in reality males of Panorpidse.