MYRIAPODA. 



accordance with the best systems of the present day, the MTKIAPODA are con- 

 sidered as a separate class. 



Some writers have placed them at the end of the insects, on account of certain 

 structural resemblances with certain insects in the larval state. There is also a 

 strong resemblance to the Annelida, or Einged Worms, which will be placed next 

 in order ; and, indeed, when we come to examine the lower forms of animal life, 

 we find ourselves quite bewildered with their many relationships, and uncertain 

 as to their true position in the scale of nature. Van der Hoeven, after reviewing some of the 

 difficulties of systematic zoologists, makes the following pertinent remarks: "Thus is the 

 entire animal kingdom a net everywhere connected, ^and every attempt to arrange animals in a 

 single ascending series must necessarily fail of effect." 



The reader will remark that in the spiders the head and thorax are fused together into a 

 single mass, the abdomen remaining separate. In the Myriapoda the reverse of this structure 

 is seen, the head being perfectly distinct, while there is no outward mark to distinguish 

 between the thorax and abdomen. 



The Myriapoda are without even the rudiments of wings, and possess a great number of 

 feet, not less than twelve pairs ; and in some species there are more than forty pairs of legs. 

 In allusion to their numerous feet, the Myriapoda are popularly called Hundred-legs, and 

 their scientific title is even bolder, signifying ten thousand feet. To this class belong the well- 

 known centipedes, so plentiful in oar gardens, and the equally well-known millipedes, found 

 under decaying wood and in similar localities. 



In moderate climates none of the Myriapods attain to great dimensions ; but in hot coun- 

 tries, and especially under the tropics, they become so large as to be positively formidable as 

 well as repulsive. Even the common centipede of the garden is by no means an attractive 

 being, and there are few persons who can handle one of those creatures without some feeling 

 of disgust. 



In all the Myriopada the feet are terminated by a single claw. Some species are totally 

 blind, but those who possess visual organs have two masses or clusters of simple eyes, their 

 number being variable, according to species or in the different stages of development in the 

 same individual. 



CHILOPODA.. 



THE first order of the Myriapods, called by Mr. Newport the Chilopoda, may be known 

 by several characteristics. The head is broad and somewhat prominent, and the segments of 

 the body are unequal, each having a single pair of legs. The mandibles are long, sickle- 

 shaped, sharp, and prominent. The first tribe of the Chilopods has antennae of great length, 

 longer indeed than the body, very slender, and composed of many joints. The tarsi are also 

 many -jointed, unequal, and very long. The eyes are prominent and rather globular. 



The family to which the NOBLE CERMATIA (Cermatia nobilis) belongs is known by eight 

 large bone-like plates or shields upon the back, looking very like the ridge tiles on the roof of 



