126 



Guide to Myriopoda. 



Table-case somite, with the exception of the tirst and last, is furnished 



No. 1.8. with a single pair of tracheal spiracles. The antennae are 



short, and consist of fourteen segments ; eyes are always absent. 



The tergal plate of the segment bearing the toxicognaths is 



always distinct, generally large, and separates the head-shield 



from the tergal plate of the first leg-bearing 



segment. 



The young when hatched have the same 

 number of segments as the adult. Like all 

 centipedes, the Geophilomorpha have poison- 

 glands, but their jaws are too weak to pierce 

 the human skin. They live a subterranean 

 existence, and their food consists almost 

 entirely of earthworms. Two of the British 

 species {Lnioiaenia mariUma and Sclicndi/la 

 ■siilniKirnia), however, are marine in habit, 

 and are found under stones between tide- 

 marks. A number of Geophilids (including 

 several British species, as Linotacnia cras- 

 si])cs, etc.) have been observed to exhibit the 

 phenomenon of phosphorescence. The phos- 

 phorescent fluid which they emit possesses 

 irritating properties, and is used for defensive 

 purposes, and also, it is believed, as a means 

 of sexual attraction. 



Fig. 8S. 



Cjeopliiliis longicorii f > 

 (slightly enlarged) . 



Order Scolopendromorpha. 



Chilopoda, in which the body is of medium lengtli, and bears, 

 invariably, twenty-one or twenty-three pairs of legs. As a rule the 

 stigmata are fewer than the legs, and are situated, roughly speak- 

 ing, upon alternate segments. The antennae are longish, and 

 never have fewer than seventeen, nor more than about thirty, 

 segments. The tergal plate of the segment bearing the poison- 

 jaws is suppressed, and the head-shield is in contact with the 

 tergal plate of the first leg-bearing segment. 



The young, wdiich are generally, perhaps always, l^orn alive, 

 have the same number of segments as the adult. 



Some of the tropical members of the Scolopendromorpha are of 

 large size, and are much dreaded on account of their venomous 

 l)ite. It is alleged, indeed, that the claws of the legs are poisonous 

 to a small extent, and that when one of these animals crawls over 

 the lumian skin, it leaves a track of inflammation l)ehind it. Tlieir 



