54 



Arachnida and Myriopoda 



and adjoining sinuses, once in the ear, and seventeen times in 

 the alimentary canal. 



The myriopods pseudoparasitic in the nasal cavities always 

 belong to the class Chilopoda (centipedes) and nearly all of them 

 belong to the long attenuated forms with many legs of the family 

 Geophilidae ; Blanchard records, however, three cases in which 

 Lithobiid centipedes were found in this situation. The following 

 species are said to have been found in the nasal cavities : — ■ 

 Geophilus carpophagus, Leach; G. electricus, Linnaeus ; G. longi- 



comis, Leach ( = G. similis, Newport); G. 

 cephalicus, Wood; Ghaetechelyne vesuviana, 

 Newp. ; L-ithobius forficai )us, L. ; L. melanops, 

 Newp. The presence of the centipede sets 

 up various symptoms such as fixed pain in the 

 forehead, headache, irritation in the nostrils, 

 violent attacks of sneezing and coughing, etc. 



The myriopoda which are believed to have 

 lived in the alimentary canal include both 

 centipedes and millipedes ; the names of the 

 species are as follows : — Geophilus electricus, 

 L. ; G. longicornis, Leach; Ghaetechelyne 

 vesuviana, Newp.; Stigmatog aster subter- 

 raneus, Leach ; Himantarium gervaisi (these 

 five species all belong to the family Geo- 

 philidae) ; Scutigera coleoptrata, L. (Fam. 

 Scutigeridae) ; and three species of milli- 

 pedes : Julus terrestris, L. ; J. londinensis, 

 Lead:; and Polydesmus complanatus, L. 



A specimen of Geophilus passed in the 

 faeces of a patient suffering from chronic 

 colitis was sent to the British Museum 

 (Nat. Hist.) in September 1914 by Dr. H. Lyon Smith. The 

 patient, a man 61 years of age, had been abroad for many years 

 in Egypt and South Africa. He suffered frequently from 

 uncontrollable (and inexplicable) attacks of vomiting. The 

 symptoms of irritation are said to have disappeared since 

 the evacuation of the "worm," as the myriopod was called 

 by the patient. It should be mentioned that minute ova, 

 resembling those of A sear is, were also found in the intestinal 

 mucus after irrigation of the colon. They were about 20 /x in 

 length. 



In some of the cases in which myriopoda are supposed to have 



Fig. 26. 



Geophilus longicornis. 

 (Slightly enlarged.) 



