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XXVI. Monograph of the Class Myriapoda, Order Chilopoda ; with Obser- 

 vations on the General Arrangement of the Articulata. By George 

 Newport, Esq., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, President of 

 the Entomological Society, 5fc. Communicated by the Secretary. 



Read March 19th, April 2nd and 16th, 1844. 



It has been well remarked by Gervais, in his essay on the Myriapoda, that 

 of all the Articulata this class has been less carefully studied than any other. 

 So few and general are the details respecting the Myriapoda, even in the 

 works of those who have paid most attention to them, that it has been almost 

 impossible to identify any one species from the descriptions that have hereto- 

 fore been given. The species formerly described by Leach, few as they were, 

 have from this circumstance remained up to the present time almost entirely 

 unknown to the continental naturalists, and, as recently remarked by Brandt, 

 it still remains for the English naturalists to supply these deficiencies. Many 

 new species have lately been described by Brandt himself; and the multitude 

 of specimens that are now brought to this country from every part of the 

 world, prove that the number of species that exist is very considerable, al- 

 though their distinct identification is exceedingly difficult, owing to their great 

 similarity of form, and often of colour; and also to the great variableness in 

 the markings and colour in the same species. It was the total inability I 

 experienced from these causes to identify specimens that I wished to examine 

 anatomically, that led me to attempt to characterise what seemed to be new 

 to science, and to re-examine those formerly described by Leach, and still 

 preserved in the cabinets of the British Museum. In this endeavour my views 

 have been most kindly forwarded by my friend the Rev. F. W. Hope, who in 

 the most handsome manner placed his whole collection at my entire com- 

 mand, for the purpose both of internal anatomical investigation of structure 

 as well as for the description of species. I have also to acknowledge a like 



