Recent research reveals that in the so-called Mithraic tauroctony, the god is, in fact, wounding a bull, not killing it. I argue that the scene combines the overall design of evil-eye amulets with the pose of the goddess Nike performing a military sphagion and I suggest that the scene must have been understood by its creator and by some viewers, at least, to offer protective power in this world, as well as salvific assurance about the next, a dual focus that seems to have been especially strong in Mithraism.

Scorpions from East Kirkton Quarry are represented by abundant cuticle fragments and rarer articulated specimens. Cuticles isolated from their matrix are exquisitely preserved, permitting this fauna to be described in more detail than other Carboniferous scorpion faunas. Most of the material is attributed to Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis n. gen. n. sp. Specimens possibly indicating the presence of two additional Pulmonoscorpius species are referred to under open nomenclature. Rare fragments of an aquatic ‘archaeoctonoid’, and an orthostern scorpion, also occur. Most specimens of Pulmonoscorpius are juveniles. The range of taphonomic effects observed in these and larger individuals suggests that, as a consequence of poor preservation, the morphology of some Upper Palaeozoic scorpions has been misinterpreted by previous workers. Within the infraorder Mesoscorpionina two groups are recognised. These are distinguished by the position of the posterior pair of coxae. Pulmonoscorpius n. gen. belongs to group A, in which the posterior coxae abut the sternum. This group includes the known Lower Carboniferous mesoscorpions and ranges from the Upper Devonian to the Upper Carboniferous. All group-A mesoscorpions are reviewed here. In group-B mesoscorpions the posterior pair of coxae apparently abut the genital opercula, but confirmation of this derived character and formal taxonomic recognition of these groupings must await a restudy of the group-B mesoscorpions, which are known from the Upper Carboniferous and Triassic.