Lessons in the School-yard. 153 



The centipede grows to be almost a foot long where it is 

 warm all the year. It is very poisonous in such countries. 

 The millipede sometimes becomes as large around as a 

 pencil. The centipede is so flat that he can get under 

 stones and in to very narrow places; he eats insects; his horns 

 or feelers are longer than those of the millipede. A baby 

 centipede is just like a big one only he has fewer joints in 

 his body. Millipedes often live in damp moss and under 

 rotten wood and leaves. Once in a while these curious 

 little creatures shed their skins and get more joints to their 

 bodies. Look at them carefully with this glass. Do you 



(a) 

 FIG. 38. a, CENTIPEDE ; 6, MILLIPEDE. 



see any difference in the way the legs are attached to the 

 bodies ? Yes, in the centipede each joint has one pair of 

 legs, but in the millipede each joint has two pairs of legs. 



Would you call these curious creatures insects ? Why 

 not ? Because in insects the body has three distinct parts 

 and always six legs. Most insects have wings also. Do 

 you think that these creatures are friendly to the crickets, 

 ants, and beetles which we saw under the stone ? No, they 

 are the enemies of insects, and often eat them. 



Some people call them " earwigs," but they are not true 

 " earwigs." 



