56 CENTIPEDES 



Geophilid Pachymenum ferrugineuniy which has a wide geographi- 

 cal range in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, fertihsation takes 

 place in the spring in southern Finland, but may also occur before 

 hibernation. The main period of egg-laying extends from the last 

 week of May to the middle of July and the number of eggs per 

 brood varies between 20 and 55, and is usually 25 to 45. When 

 disturbed during brooding, the female either eats her eggs and 

 young, or else abandons them, but adolescent young do not seem 

 to be attacked. If the relative humidity drops only 1-3% below 

 saturation, the eggs begin to shrink, owing to desiccation. If they 

 are separated from the mother they become infected with fungi 

 within a few days: it is probable that when mouthing and touching 

 the eggs the female coats them with some fungicidal secretion that 

 prevents spores from developing. The maximum size of the young 

 at the end of their first summer is 16mm: some of the individuals 

 become mature during their second summer, others not until 

 their third. As the size of the mature females varies considerably 

 the largest individuals are probably at least four years old (Palmen 

 and Rantala, 1954). 



Fig. 14. Parental care in a Scolopendra. 



In the Lithobiomorpha the eggs are laid individually in the soil 

 after being covered with earth by the female, but in the Scolo- 

 pendromorpha the young are usually guarded by their mother 

 until they are able to shift for themselves. Often a roughly 

 hollowed-out cavity is made in soft or rotting wood by the body 

 of the mother before the eggs are laid. The parent centipede then 

 curls herself around her eggs and young so that as she lies on her 

 side they are enclosed in a basket-like framework formed by the 



