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Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 April 1939, Page 8

Thinking that it was a mouse rustling a paper hat-bag hung on the wall, two young women who were engaged in hop-picking in the Upper Vloutere district carefully opened the bag and were horrified to see a large scorpion crawl out. The scorpion was about four inches long and haa a red head with a black, striped body. It had been captive in the hatbag for three weeks, and during that time the hat had been put in and taken out of the bag many times. As the girls had travelled from Auckland, they must have collected the scorpion on their way to Nelson. This is the second scorpion recently reported found in New Zealand.

A human skeleton was unearthed at Birkenhead (Auckland) by borough couuncil workmen while excavating in Arawa Street. The skeleton, a very old one of an adult, probably of a man. was embedded in a pit of pipi shells, apparently an old Maori kitchen, the locality having been a Maori pa. The lime in the shells apparently preserved the remains. The larger leg and arm bones were intact; the skull was in two or three pieces but otherwise well preserved, as were also the jawbones and some teeth. The ribs and vertebrae were scattered and friable.