CENTIPEDE. 
505 
general representation of the animal than of a 
highly accurate figure, the legs seeming to be too 
numerous, and some of the first pairs bifid at the 
tips. 
Scolopendra forficata is a very -common insect, 
and is met with in similar situations with the 
Oniscus Asellus and Armadillo : it is an animal 
of swift motion, and is furnished with fifteen legs 
on each side : its colour is a polished chesnut 
brown, somewhat paler beneath, and its usual 
length an inch and half. 
Scolopendra electrica is, like the former, an in- 
habitant of damp situations, and not unfrequently 
makes its appearance in houses : its general length 
is about an inch and half, and its diameter scarcely 
more than the tenth of an inch; being of an ex- 
tremely long and slender form : its colour is a dusky 
brown, with the legs yellowish: these are about 
seventy on each side. The motions of this insect 
are tortuous and undulatory, seldom continuing 
long in the same direction: it is possessed of a 
high degree of phosphoric splendor, which how- 
ever seems to be only exerted when the animal is 
pressed or suddenly disturbed, when it diffuses a 
beautiful smaragdine light, so powerful as not to 
be obliterated by two candles on the same table. 
It is also tenacious of life, remaining seemingly 
uninjured for a great many days in the closest 
confinement. 
Scolopendra suhterranea so much resembles the 
former, that it might be easily confounded with 
it : it is however of a still more slender form, and 
