127 
is rather complicated, but is well adapted for gnawing vegetable 
substances. Without figures itis difficult to describe it intelligibly. 
The female lays eggs which she carries about with her, in 
what is known as the thoracic pouch, which is formed by certain 
plates which grow from the base of the legs. The young, when 
hatched, occupy the same position for some time. They much 
resemble their parents in form, but have only 6 pairs of legs and 
are quite white. Woodlice are often very destructive in gardens 
and greenhouses, particularly in mushroom beds and melon pits ; 
even in orchard houses they are a great nuisance, for they do not 
disdain ripe peaches, in fact, it is difficult to say what they will-not 
eat in the way of vegetable ‘produce. A few years ago a very good 
crop of strawberries, in Canterbury, almost entirely failed owing to 
the attacks of these ‘pests, who gnawed the fruit, and even opened 
many of the seeds. They are very destructive also in hot-houses, 
particularly among orchids, they hide in the moss around the plants, 
and feed on their young fleshy roots. Woodlice appear to share 
the same feelings as Insects, and I am afraid those of some of the 
higher animals, in having a great dislike to cleanliness and water ; 
nothing suits them better than an untidy garden, or a badly kept 
hot-house. In pits and hot beds, where they often hide themselves 
between the earth and the walls, or woodwork, the best way of 
destroying them is to pour boiling water into their haunts. When 
they take up their abode among the moss in pots, where plants are 
growing, they may be trapped by cutting apples or potatoes in 
half, and then, slightly scooping them out, lay them with the 
hollowed part downwards in the pot, and the woodlice will creep 
under them. They should be examined every morning. Small 
garden pots partly filled with dry moss witha small piece of apple, 
potato, or cheese, at the bottom, and laid on their sides, form good 
traps. 
The Centipedes as I have already mentioned belong to the 
Myriapoda ; the British species are quite harmless and very small, 
compared with the tropical species, some of which are a foot in 
length and their bite is at times very venomous. 
The Myriapoda.—The class to which the Centipedes and Snake 
Millipedes belong, is divided into four orders, but it is only with 
the first two which we have to deal with. The Chilopoda or 
Centipedes, so called on account of the first pair of legs having 
been modified, so as to form a pair of mandibles; and the 
Chilognatha or Snake Millipedes, which have comparatively weak 
jaws. The centipedes may easily be distinguished from the latter, 
not only by examination of the head, but by the legs—they have 
only one pair to each joint of the body; whereas the snake 
millipedes have two pairs. All the latter, in spite of the number 
