414 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



tips of all the legs of these large centipedes are poisonous 

 and that they inflict severe wounds merely by crawling 

 over the naked skin. 



It would seem from all the evidence we have been able 

 to glean, that the bite of a centipede will vary in its 

 effect, depending probably upon the susceptibility of the 

 person wounded. It is probably safe to say that the centi- 

 pedes occurring in the United States are not to be con- 

 sidered seriously dangerous. The larger species of the 

 Southwest had probably best be avoided, although there 

 does not seem to be any reason for the hysterical fear of 

 these creatures exhibited by some people. 



References to Literature on Poisonous* Centipedes 



1887. Riley, C. V. — Poisonous insects. Reference Handbook of 



the Medical Sciences, Vol. V, p. 749. 

 1893. Bollman, C. H. — The Myriapoda of North America. 



Bull. 46, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



1895. Sinclair, F. G. — Myriapoda. Cambridge Natural History, 

 Vol. V, p. 29. 



1896. Norman, W. W. — The poison of centipedes, Scolopendra 

 morsitans. Proceedings of the Texas Academy of Science, pp. 

 118-119. 



1910. Pocock, R. I. — Centipedes. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th 

 Edition, pp. 669-674. 



1910. Castellani, A., and Chalmers, A. J. — Manual of tropi- 

 cal medicine, p. 143. 



THE INSECTS 



It is estimated that there are several million species of 

 insects on the face of the earth, and we can truly say that 

 only a very few of this vast number possess qualities 

 poisonous to human beings. We must remember that a 



