22 



INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



CHILOPODA (Class) 



CENTIPEDES 



The members of this class are long and slender with rather soft, 

 flattened bodies, made up of many segments. The antennae and legs 

 are quite long — much longer than in the case of the millipeds, and the 

 legs are attached wide apart at the sides of the body, rather than close 

 together on the ventral surface, as in the diplopods. There is but one 

 pair of legs to a segment. The centipedes are carnivorous in habits 

 and feed upon such other small animals as may be captured. Some 

 species are quite large and have the first pair of legs modified into 

 poison-jaws, so that their bites are quite poisonous. From their car- 

 nivorous habits they might in general be classed as beneficial, in that 

 they destroy many injurious insects and other small animals. 



THE HOUSE CENTIPEDE 10 



Scutigera forceps Raf. 

 (Fig. 21) 



Description. — The illustration. Fig. 21, shows well the general 

 appearance of this centipede. The body is about 1 inch long and 

 grayish yellow marked on the back with three 

 longitudinal dark stripes. The antennae are 

 longer than the body and very slender. There 

 are fifteen pairs of long slender legs in the adults 

 and less in the young. The last pair are much 

 longer than the rest and in the females twice as 

 long as the body. The entire animal is exceed- 

 ingly frail, and it is practically impossible to 

 capture one without removing some of the deli- 

 cate legs. 



Life History.— Practically nothing is known 

 about the life history of this centipede. It may 

 be found in the adult stage nearly any part 

 of the year. The writer captured an adult speci- 

 men in January. It is carnivorous in habits and 

 feeds upon many of the common household pests 

 and in this sense may be considered beneficial. 

 Though the centipede is claimed to have bitten 

 people, nothing definite has ever been recorded, 

 and it is doubtful if the animal is able to inflict 

 a wound that would be very serious, and then 

 only if caught or partially crushed and in self- 

 defense. It travels exceedingly rapidly and is Agric.) 

 very difficult to capture. In the houses it may dart across the floor, 

 walls or even one's hand, causing a very unpleasant sensation to any 

 one seeing or feeling it. 



Distribution.— Professor R. V. Chamberlin has taken this centipede 

 in Butte, Fresno, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties. The 

 writer has collected it at Sacramento. 



Fig. 21. — The house 

 centipede, Scutigera for- 

 ceps Raf. Natural size. 

 (After U. S. Department 



16 Marlatt, C. L., Cir. No. 48, Bur. Ent. U. S. Dept. Agric, 1908. 



