170 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM you ni 



Thompson cites many other valuable records and includes an exten- 

 sive bibliography to which the reader is refeiTed for additional infor- 

 mation. 



Since at least some geophilomorph centipedes can tolerate and may 

 even accept as quite nonnal limited sea submersion, and since such 

 inactive inhabitants of what might be called the crevice-cranny habitat 

 would probably not be discomfited much or at all in the wood or un- 

 der the bark of larger floating trees and bushes, it seems quite reason- 

 able to imagine these centipedes capable of successful trans- Atlantic 

 crossings by rafting. Man}^, perhaps the majority, would perish, but 

 over the almost inconceivably long span of time and in the light of 

 the untold milHons of such voyages that were begun, many must 

 have reached land and survived. This theory gains additional support 

 from the fact that the Main Equatorial Current flows up the south- 

 western African coast to the Gulf of Guinea and across to Brazil, 

 there dividing southward and northward, the latter division eventu- 

 ally passing into the Caribbean to merge ^vith the Gulf Stream. The 

 shortest distance between Africa and South America by this route is 

 only about 2,000 miles and, tests have shown, takes about 12 weeks 

 by rafting. 



I suggest that during the immense stretches of tune of the past 

 some centipedes — they may ver}?- well have been Schendylidae — 

 made the journey successfully, and that this explanation reasonably 

 accounts for the presence in Africa and South America of many, but 

 of course not all, congeneric or conspecific centipedes. Perhaps the 

 remarkable distributions of Schemlylurus and of some of the ballopbi- 

 lines were established, at least in part, in this manner. 



Order Scolopendromorpha 

 Family Scolopendridae 



Scolopendra subspinipes Leach. One adult, outsku-ts of Charles- 

 town, Nevis, April 16, 1958. With the exception of the Mediterra- 

 nean region, this large species is common to the tropics of the world. 

 The nominate variant is apparently found widely in the New World 

 tropics, probably as a result of repeated introductions. 



Scolopendra alternans Leach. Two juveniles. Indigo Wells, Bar- 

 buda, April 26, 1958; one adult, Little Bay, Peter Island, March 30, 

 1958; one adult, L'eau Gamier, Dominica, March 13, 1956. Appar- 

 ently restricted to the New World tropics, alternans is probably the 

 most common Scolopendra in the Caribbean area. It has often been 

 reported from southern peninsular Florida and the adjoining keys, 

 and may be presumed to be established at least on the keys. 



