CHAP. XXIII. SOME OTHER WIMAI.v 237 



J first "i all, for otherwise the large lisli will probably eal 

 the smaller one- and be useless themselves .is mosquito-destroyers. 

 Crabs are found in most streams both in the Plains and Hill- ami 



onally do a little harm by burrowing into bunds of paddy- 

 fields, etc. It i- possible that they may also do some damage at 

 times to young paddy, whilst crab-holesare often utilized as breed- 

 ing place- by mosquitos, Ceratopogon, and other blood-sucking Hie-. 



t distrii ts, however, they are sought after and used 

 a dead Calotes being a favourite bait. 



'I'he Arachnida include the mite-, which are treated elsewhere, 

 and the scorpions, spiders and ticks. Scorpion- of various kinds 

 are common, and we maj mention here the large blackish-green 

 Palamnaus found commonly under stones in the Hills, the large 

 brown Butho which occurs in the Plains, and the little grey house- 

 scorpion ; this last, which frequently shams death when discovered, 

 forms a useful check on household pests. The " Jalamandalam ' 

 or "Jerry Munglum " (Galeodes indicus), common in Bellary and 

 other districts, also belongs to this group. Spider- are 

 tremely varied in structure, appearance and habits that it i- impos- 

 sible to attempt any account of the group here and the student may 

 be referred to the " Fauna " volume which contain- some ai 

 .>l th. larger torm-. Allusion may. however, be made to the social 

 nests ol Stegodyphus which sometimes cover whole bushes and are 

 inhabited by numerous individuals which live in common a very 

 unusual habit amongst spiders, where it i- the general rule for the 

 female to eat her own husband. In South .Africa, where a similar 

 Stegodyphus occurs, the caterpillar- ol a little moth (Batrachedra 



bhobius), live in the ne-t with the spiders and feed on the 



I fragment- of the food of the latter; [have found empty 



pupa-c a-e- ol a -mall moth in these nests in Madia- and further 



■ h will probabl} reveal a similar symbiotic arrangement. 



The Diplopoda include the Millipede-, animals with long, round, 



segmented bodies, with two pair- of short leg- on each segment. 



One species ha- been found under suspicious circumstances in a 



t damage to ground-nuts but it is probable that these 

 animals may occasionally do a little damage by feeding on grow- 

 ing plant-. Normally their food seems to consist ol <\v.\A vegetable 

 matter and lichen-. The) are preyed on by some Reduviicl bug-, 

 such as Physorhynchus, but seem rather exempt from attack by 

 vertebrate enemies. 



The Chilopoda or Centipedes have a long, many-jointed, flatten- 

 ed body, each segment bearing only one pair of leg-, ol which the 

 first pair is u-ually modified t<>l<Tm a formidable pair of p 

 fangs. Centipedes generally live in cavities and cra< k- in the soil 



