148 



JMANOOIDS. 



they never have wings ; but from the great amount of damage 

 they cause they may well be classed amongst crop injurers. 



1, Jiilits londincnsis; 3, J. fiiiffatits {pulcJteUiis, Leach); 4, J. tcrrestris ; 

 5, horn ; 7, Polijdcsmus complanatus ; all magnified; and 2 and G, nat. size. 



The Julus terrestris (Lmn.), figured above (magnified) at 

 " 4," is one of the largest of the British species. This is 

 about an inch long, shining, cylindrical, of a dark lead or pitchy 

 colour, with pale or ochreous legs, these amounting in 

 number in the specimens examined by John Curtis to as many 

 as 156. The segment immediately preceding the tail segment 

 is furnished with a kind of spike (" mucronate "). 



Jidus londincnsis, Leach (fig. 1), is very similar to the fore- 

 going, of a dark lead colour, but is distinguishable by the 

 penultimate segment being just a little angulated in the centre 

 not mucronate. The figure gives a good idea of how these 

 black, shiny Millei^edes are usually seen when disturbed from 

 under a stone or rubbish, Ijdng partly coiled-up with their 

 multitude of short legs, forming a kind of fringe beneath the 

 Millepede. 



The J. guttatus, Fab. {jndchellus, Leach), figured nat. size 

 and magnified at "2" and "3," is also cylindrical, and 

 shining ; it is of an ochreous colour, with a double row of 

 bright crimson spots down each side excepting on the four 

 first and five last segments. It has about 170 legs. After 

 death the change of colour of this species to a red purple is 

 very striking. * 



The females are stated to lay their eggs in the ground from 

 about the end of December until the following May, and to 

 propagate most in undisturbed ground ; but the Millepedes 

 are to be found under rubbish, or amongst dead leaves, or 

 especially in manure-heaps where much refuse garden rubbish 

 is thrown. 



* The above descriptions, and that following of Puhjdesmus complanatus, are 

 mainly taken from Curtis's ' Farm Insects,' which see for full descriptions of 

 various species, pp. 201 — 20-1. 



