Myriapoda 
133 
The majority of the cases relate to infestation of the nasal fossae, 
or the frontal sinus, but intestinal infestation also occurs and there 
is one recorded case of the presence of a species in Julus (fig. 13) in 
the auditory canal of a child. 
In the nose, the myriapods have been known to live for months 
and according to some records, even for years. The symptoms 
caused by their presence are inflammation, with or without increased 
flow of mucus, itching, more or less intense headache, and at times 
general symptoms such as vertigo, delirium, convulsions, and the 
like. These symptoms disappear suddenly when the parasites are 
expelled. 
In the intestine of man, myriapods give rise to obscure symptoms 
suggestive of infestation by parasitic worms. In a case reported by 
Verdun and Bruyant (1912), a child twenty months of age had been 
affected for fifteen days by digestive disturbances characterized by 
loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting. The latter had been partic¬ 
ularly pronounced for three days, when there was discovered in the 
midst of the material expelled a living myriapod of the species 
Chcetechelyne vesuviana. Anthelminthics had been administered 
without result. In some of the other cases, the administration of 
such drugs had resulted in the expulsion of the parasite through the 
anus. 
One of the extreme cases on record is that reported by Shipley 
(1914). Specimens of Geoplulus gorizensis (= G. subterraneus) 
‘were vomited and passed by a woman of 68 years of age. Some of 
the centipedes emerged through the patient’s nose, and it must be 
mentioned that she was also suffering from a round worm. One of 
her doctors was of the opinion that the centipedes were certainly 
breeding inside the lady’s intestines, and as many as seven or eight, 
sometimes more, were daily leaving the alimentary canal.” 
‘‘According to her attendant’s statements these centipedes had 
left the body in some hundreds during a period of twelve or eighteen 
months. Their presence produced vomiting and some hsematemesis, 
and treatment w r ith thymol, male-fern and turpentine had no effect 
in removing the creatures.” 
The clinical details, as supplied by Dr. Theodore Thompson were 
as follows: 
‘‘Examined by me July, 1912, her tongue was dry and glazed. 
There was bleeding taking place from the nose and I saw a living 
centipede she had just extracted from her nostril. Her heart, lungs 
