128 Forty-first Report on the State Museum, 



Cermatia forceps (R^ifin.). 



(Class Myeiapoda : Ord. Chilopoda : Fam. ScuTiGEKiDiE.) 

 Calista foi'ceps Eafinesque: in Annals of Nature, 1st No., 1820, p. 7. 

 Cermatia coleoptrata Villiees. Say : in Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., ii, 1821, 



p. 109; Compl. Writ., LeConte Edit, ii, 1883,p. 29. 

 Cermatia Floridana Newpoet : in Linn. Trans., xix, 1845, p. 353. 

 Scutigera Floridana Geevais : Aptera, iv, p. 225. 

 Cermatia forceps. Wood: in Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., 2d ser., v, 1862, 



p. 9; in Trans. Amer. Philosoph. Soc, new ser., xiii, 1869, p. 145, 



pi. 3, figs. 1, la. 

 Cermatia forceps. Packaed : Guide Stud. Ins., 1869, p. 673; in Amer. Nat., 



xiii, 1879, p. 527 ; in id., xiv, 1880, pp. 602, 603 (eyes and brain). 

 Cermatia forceps. Henshaw : in Amer. Nat., xiii, 1879, p. 711. 

 Cermatia forceps. Mueeay: Econom. EntomoL— Aptera, p. 29. 

 Cermatia forceps. Lintnee : in Count, Gent., xlv, 1880, p. 311 ; in Brooklyn 



Citizen, Sept. 5, 1887, p. 3, c. 5, 6. 

 Cermatia forceps. Undeewood : in Entomolog. Amer., i, 1885, p. 149. 

 Scutigera forceps. Bollman : in Entomolog. Amer., iv, 1888, p. 8. 



Examples of this denizen of many Albany dwellings, have so fre- 

 quently been brought to this office for name, etc., that it is believed 

 that an account of it will prove of general interest, since its annoying 

 intrusion is by no means limited to Albany, but is co-extensive with an 

 already extended distribution over the Northern United States. 



Does not Belong to the Class of Insects. 



Its consideration does not properly come within the province of an 



entomological department, as it is not a member of the class of 



insects — characterized by having only six legs in the perfect stage, 



and from eight to twenty-two in the larval state, but of that of the 



Myriapoda, members of which are popularly known as "thousand 



legged worms," centipedes, etc. Among these it holds high rank — 



almost the highest, and it consequently approaches near to the insects 



in several respects, as in the character of its head, its long antennse, 



the small number of its abdominal joints, and other structural 



features. 



Is One of the Centipedes. 



It may claim more than an ordinary share of interest, from its being 

 a veritable Centiped, and from the determination that it disj)lays of 

 domesticating itself in our northern homes, which have hitherto been 

 free from the intrusion of this class of unwelcome guests — so com- 

 mon and so seriously annoj^ing in warmer climates. The anxiety that 

 it has already aroused is shown by the frequent requests that are 

 being made for some information of its nature and of its habits — 

 whether harmful, dangerous, or otherwise. 



