358 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



The animal is a very delicate one and so easily crushed 

 that it is almost impossible to catch one alive and whole. 

 When it is crushed or killed, the legs invariably curl into 

 a tangled mass resembling a bunch of snarled threads. 

 Hence has originated its common name, "skein centipede." 

 A correspondent of Insect Life gives a very clear descrip- 

 tion of this animal, emphasizing the skein effect. She 

 says : "The first I ever saw was five inches long, at least. 

 I thought it was a skein of brown silk in a tangle, and 

 picked it up from the carpet with my thumb and finger. 

 I have never seen another as large, but the wet weather 

 brings them into the bathroom in two sorts, one as I have 

 described it, brown and tangled, the other of the same 

 general shape, but with distinct antennae at one end and 

 something similar at the other, black and smoky in color." 



This animal grows by shedding its skin from time to 

 time, in a manner similar to insects. These cast skins 

 have the legs greatly entangled, with the whole rolled up 

 very much resembling a tangle of strings. The corre- 

 spondent evidently picked up one of these cast skins. 

 The other form of which she speaks was the living animal. 



Its mouth parts and food. — Its mouth parts are formed 

 for biting and consequently it is fitted for preying upon 

 other animals. Its food probably consists chiefly of 

 insects, for it has repeatedly been seen to catch and kill 

 cockroaches, and has also been observed to catch and 

 kill house-flies, small moths, and other insects. It is 

 also supposed to feed upon the bedbug. 



It has been difficult to keep this centipede in captivity 

 where its feeding habits might be observed. When con- 

 fined, it soon dies. Miss Marshall, however, of Albany, 

 New York, succeeded in keeping a house centipede in an 



