itOS 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



entirely harmless "thousand leg" that finds its way into 

 houses (Scutigera), a gentle, a fragile creature that is 

 seen to run of an evening close to the wall, sometimes 

 up the latter to the ceiling. A mere touch is sufficient to 

 sever its legs or delicate antennae from its body, and the 

 weight of a finger enough to crush it entirely. Yet there 

 are people who are as much alarmed by the presence 

 of one of these utterly harmless little creatures as by 

 the coming in of a full- 

 grown rattle-snake. 



Some of our "thousand 

 legs" are positively hand- 

 some animals, and during 

 the summer it is not diffi- 

 cult to find several species 

 of them under logs and 

 stones in the woods. Two 

 kinds have a cylindrical 

 form, with a great many 

 pairs of soft little legs that 

 they move, in walking, in 

 an alternate fashion in a 

 manner of waves. One of 

 these species is much larg- 

 er than the other, while 

 both have a flinty shell to 

 the body and curl up when 

 handled (lulus). Thous- 

 and-legs of all kinds have 

 been grouped into a class 

 called the Myriapoda; a 

 single specimen is referred 

 to as a myriapod. One of 

 the groups of these myria- 

 pods has been named the 

 Chilopoda, and it has been 

 created to contain the more 

 conspicuous collection of 

 forms very generally known 

 as Centipedes. These also 

 have segmented bodies, 

 with a pair of legs attach- 

 ed to each segment. In 

 our part oi the country 

 these centipedes are small 

 and quite harmless, while 

 in the tropics the species 

 are very much larger and, 

 in some instances, danger- 

 ously venomous. Most of 

 them belong to the genus 

 Scolopendra, one species of 

 which, in South America, 

 is fully a foot long and 

 greatly dreaded by the people, as it well deserves to be. 

 In Europe, too, they have an electric scolopendra which 

 is said to be luminous in the dark ; while here in the 

 United States we have but one small species (Scolopendra 

 viridis), which is found in Florida and for some distance 



WHIP-TAILED SCORPIONS MAY BE RECKONED AMONG THE 

 MOST INTERESTING OF THE ARACHNID FORMS IN OUR FAUNA. 

 THE SPECIMENS SHOWN IN THE ACCOMPANYING CUTS WERE 

 COLLECTED BY MR. NELSON R. WOOD, OF THE UNITED STATES 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM, AND PRESENTED ALIVE TO THE WRITER. 



Fig. II These cuts are reproductions of photographs from life, and 

 show two angry whip-tailed scorpions, with their "tails" erect, and their 

 claws thrown widely apart. This thelyphonid is known as Thelyphontts 

 gigantens. 



northward. One specimen of this, captured by Mr. 

 Wood at Auburndale, Florida, was received alive by 

 the writer, who succeeded in making a photograph of 

 it ; this is reproduced in Figure 9, where the centipede 

 is viewed from above. It is a very unusual cut, and 

 probably for the first time gives the relative sizes of the 

 centipede and the whip-tail scorpion. An authority at 

 hand says that "Centipedes, or 'Hundred-Legs,' have 



their segments flattened, 

 and covered with a leathery 

 skin, and have one pair of 

 legs on each segment, the 

 posterior pair being direct- 

 ed backwards and elongat- 

 ed so as to resemble a 

 couple of jointed tails. 

 Their antennae have not less 

 than fourteen and rarely 

 more than forty joints, 

 while the body segments do 

 not usually exceed twenty. 

 The organs of the mouth 

 are masticatory, and are 

 admirably adapted to the 

 carnivorous habits of the 

 centipede. It feeds princi- 

 pally on insects, seizing 

 them with its powerful pre- 

 hensile organs, and inject- 

 ing at the same time its 

 venom into the wound. The 

 bite of the larger forms, 

 as Scolopendra morsitans, 

 occurring in tropical coun- 

 tries, is exceedingly pain- 

 ful, and is described by 

 those who have suffered 

 from it as 'similar to what 

 might be produced by con- 

 tact with a red hot iron,' 

 giving rise to swelling, 

 throbbing pains and febrile 

 symptoms. These, how- 

 ever, yield readily to an ap- 

 plication of ammonia. Cen- 

 tipedes seldom exceed a 

 foot in length. They are 

 exceedingly active in pur- 

 suit of their prey, insinuat- 

 ing their many-jointed and 

 flattened bodies under 

 stones, beneath the bark of 

 trees, and wherever insects 

 usually lurk." 



In the same locality where the centipede shown in 

 Figure 9 was found, Mr. Wood came across several 

 specimens of the famous Whip-scorpions, one of the 

 common names of which, among a dozen others, is 

 vinegerone. Three illustrations of this curious creature 



