THE MYRIAPODA OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 



By F. G. SINCLAIR, M.A., of Trinity College. 



THE number of species of Myriapods found in Great 

 Britain is not a very large one. This may in part be due to 

 the alterations that have been made in recent times in the 

 classification of the group. The two authors who have done 

 most work in the enumeration of the British species are 

 Newport and Leach. At the time when they wrote, the total 

 number of species known was not a quarter of those known 

 at the present day; and the characters which these writers 

 used in the determination of their species were not the same 

 as those which are utilized in more modern times. This 

 renders it a very difficult matter to come to a conclusion as to 

 how far the species known in this country extend on the 

 Continent, and whether we have in this country any species 

 altogether peculiar to it. 



Though the range of species both of Chilopods and Diplo- 

 pods is a wide one in one way, yet in another way they are 

 extremely local. This seeming contradiction is due to the fact 

 that one kind of habitat suits certain species and they are 

 rarely to be found in a place where the circumstances are 

 different. This is so much the case that Dr Karl Verhoeff 

 arranged the Diplopoda according to their habitat; thus: 

 (1) Diplopods living on heavy land; (2) on sandy land; 

 (3) under stones; (4) on leaves; (5) under bark; (6) on 

 plants ; (7) cave Diplopods ; (8) Alpine Diplopods ; (9) foreign 

 Diplopods. 



