1912. ^ SEI.BIE. — Some New Irish Myriapods, 113 



SOME NEW IRISH MYRIAPODS. 



BY C. M. SELBIE, B.SC. 



In 1893 Mr. R. I. Pocock published ^ a paper containing a 

 list of Myriapoda which he had identified from a collection 

 made in Ireland. The list consisted of twenty-two species, 

 ten centipedes and twelve millipedes. In 1895 Prof. 

 Carpenter- added Scolopendrella immaculata, Leach, which 

 he had found in Galway, and which has since been taken 

 in Co. Dublin and on Lambay. In 1896 there appeared a 

 paper by H. W. Brolemann ^ in which he adds three new 

 species to the list, bringing the total up to twenty -six. He 

 also mentions a millipede of the subgenus Leptoiuhis, but 

 this almost certainly belongs to the species identified by 

 Pocock as Julus pilosus, Newport. In the same paper he 

 gives a description of the large banded centipede Lithohius 

 variegattis, Leach. 



Since then no other species has been added to the number 

 recorded as occurring in Ireland. Indeed the Myriapoda 

 have been left severely alone. It is not easy to see why 

 this should be so, for though it is true that the group is 

 one of extreme difficulty, that the identification of species 

 depends upon minute structures and obscure points of 

 difference, yet these drawbacks are more than counter- 

 balanced by the rich field for original work offered by them. 

 There is no doubt that in this country man}^ species, new 

 to Ireland or to Great Britain, are 3^et to be discovered, 

 and perhaps even some new to science. The life history of 

 many of them has still to be worked out, and their habits 

 as regards moulting and nest -building are very imperfectly 

 known. 



In examining the Myriapod collections in the National 

 Museum I have discovered specimens of the two following 

 species identified by Prof. Carpenter but not previously 

 recorded. 



^ Irish Naturalist, vol. ii., 1893, PP- 3^^9-312. 

 2 Id. vol. iv., 1895, P- 256. 

 ^ Id. vol. v., 1896, pp, 12-15. 



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