MYRIAPODS. 



129 



these forms are terrestrial in their habits, living under stones and decaying wood, and 



preying upon the smaller insects which are found there. The genera are largely 



founded upon the shape of the anterior segment of the head, and upon 



the structure and form of the mouth-parts. Geophllus, the typical genus, 



has the anterior segment of the head square. The European G. electri- 



cus (which belongs to the section Arthronomalus) is phosphorescent, 



shining in the dark like a glow-worm. Strigamia elliptica, of Oregon, 



which reaches a length of five and a half inches, is the largest member 



of the family known. 



The SCOLOPENDEID.E are characterized by usually possessing four 

 ocelli on either side, seventeen to twenty-jointed antenna?, and usually 

 unequal body-segments. To some of these characters an exception 

 occurs in Cryptops, which is blind, and which has equal segments; 

 further characters of this genus are seventeen-jointed antennae, and 

 twenty-one body-segments and pairs of limbs, each of which terminates 

 in a single-jointed tarsus. Scolopendra, the typical genus, has eighteen 

 or twenty joints in the antennae, twenty-one segments and appendages 

 and two-jointed tarsi. The species of Scolopendra are inhabitants of 

 the warmer climates, and are the famous centipedes of fact and fiction. 

 The largest known species is S. gigantea of the East Indies which reaches 



nine inches or even a foot in length. Scol- 

 opendra morsitans, of South America, is 

 nearly equal in size. 



The larger forms of centipedes are cele- 

 brated for their poisonous bite, which is FIG. iss. <?eop/ 

 fatal to insects and other small animals, 

 and very painful and even dangerous to 

 man. To us the centipedes are far from pleasant objects, 

 especially when regarded as articles of food ; but Plum- 

 boldt says that the children of some of the South Amer- 

 ican Indians extract large specimens from their holes, 

 and having torn off the head with its poisonous fangs, 

 eat the remainder with evident gusto. 



Several species have been found within the limits of 

 the United States. Our largest form is /S. castaniceps, 

 which reaches a length of five and a half inches. It is 

 found throughout the Southern States. Our other forms 

 are smaller, and their bite is far less venomous than that 

 of the large tropical species. 



The LITHOBIID.E have a body with unequal segments, 

 there being nine large and six smaller dorsal scutes. 

 There are numerous ocelli on either side of the head, 

 and the antennas are many-jointed. There are fifteen 

 pairs of feet. Lithobius, with forty jointed antennae, 

 flattened head, and two-jointed tarsi, is represented by 

 TJ. americanus, a widely distributed American form. 

 The species of this genus prey largely upon earth-worms and insects, to which their 

 bite is poisonous. 



VOT,. II. 9 



FIG. 189. Ccrmatia forceps, 

 natural size. 



