OTHER 'MYRIAPODS' 65 



since about the middle of the eighteenth century and numerous 

 articles have been published which deal with its members. Nearly- 

 all of these are concerned principally with the taxonomy, anatomy 

 and phylogenetic relationships of the group while a few of the 

 later papers consider its ecological and economic aspects. The 

 first species was described in 1763 as Scolopendra nivea by Scopuli, 

 who evidently little realised that the organism possessed charac- 

 ters so distinct from those of the Chilopoda that eventually it 

 would be placed in a class by itself. In 1839 Gervais named the 

 second species, which he collected near Paris, Scolopendrella nota- 

 cantha and in 1847 he placed this genus in the Geophilidae: but 

 Menge in 1851 suggested that Scolopendrella should be considered 

 as transitional between the Scolopendridae and the Lepismidae! 

 The best-known species, Scutigerella immaculata, occurs on both 

 sides of the Atlantic, and in America has risen to the rank of a 

 serious economic pest (Michelbacher, 1938). Since 1920, numerous 

 important papers have been published on this subject. 



S. immaculata is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere 

 but is known to occur only in a single locality, Buenos Aires, 

 south of the equator. It does not appear to be widespread in Africa 

 but has been reported from several localities in Algeria and Tunisia, 

 and has been found in the Alps at a height of 9,842 ft. There are no 

 definite records of it from Asia or Australia. Nothing can be said of 

 its southern limits, but it probably extends well into the tropics 

 since the climate of the Hawaiian Islands seems well suited to its 

 development. Other species of Symphyla are found widespread 

 throughout the world: their northern distribution seems to be 

 limited by expected minimum temperatures of about 15° F-. 

 Under experimental conditions Scutigerella immaculata can with- 

 stand a temperature of 20° C for long periods but seems unable to 

 survive freezing for any length of time if previously held at room 

 temperature. If kept at 4-5° C first however it may withstand 0° C 

 for months (Michelbacher, 1938). ^ 



Many species are well distributed in the tropics and although 

 none has yet been recorded from China or Siberia, they probably 

 occur there too. 



Symphyla are negatively phototactic but the response is not 

 very strongly developed for they appear to come to the surface of 



E S.S.C.M. 



