MYRIAPODA. 351 



composed of two mandibles furnished with a little palpiform appen- 

 dage, which seemed to have been soldered in the middle, and ter- 

 minated like the bowl of a spoon. with dentated edges; of a quadrifid 

 lip *, of Avhich the two lateral divisions are the largest, and trans- 

 versely annulated, resembling the membranous feet of caterpillars; 

 of two palpi or little feet, united at base and unguiculated at the extre- 

 mity, and of a second lip f formed by a second pair of feet, dilated 

 and united at base, and terminated by a stout moveable hook, whose 

 inferior extremity is perforated by a hole which affords an issue to a 

 venomous fluid. 



The body is depressed and membranous. Each of its rings is 

 covered with a coriaceous or cartilaginous plate, and most generally 

 bears but a single pair of feet '\, ; the last is usually thrown backwards, 

 and elongated into a kind of tail. The organs of respiration are 

 wholly or partly composed of tubular tracheae. 



These animals run very fast, are carnivorous, avoid the light, and 

 conceal themselves under stones, logs, in the ground, &c. They are 

 much dreaded by the inhabitants of hot climates, where they are very 

 large, and where their venom is possibly more active. The Scolo- 

 pendra morsitans is styled in the Antilles the malfaisante. Some of • 

 them exhibit phosphorescent properties. 



The organs of generation are internal, and placed at the posterior 

 extremity of the body, as in most of the following Insects. The 

 stigmata are lateral or dorsal, and more apparent than in the preced- 

 ing family. 



The Chilopoda, which, in the system of Leach, form the order 

 Syngnatha, from these last characters, the nature of the respiratory 

 organs and the feet, may be thus divided : 



* A part analogous to the lower lip of the Chilognatha, representing, in my 

 opinion, the tongue of the Crustacea, but also capable of fulfilling the function of 

 jaws; Savigny calls it the first auxiliary lip. 



f The second auxiliary lip of the same naturalist. It is not annexed to the head, 

 but to the anterior extremity of the first semi-segment. The two hooked feet, by 

 the union and dilatation of their first joint, form a plate resembling a mentum and 

 lip. The same segment bears the two first ordinary feet. In the Scolopendrse 

 proper of Leach, the two first stigmata are situated under the third half-segment, 

 the first not counted; the second and following one will compose the first complete 

 ring, and then the two first stigmata are found, as in other Insects, placed on a 

 space corresponding to the prothorax. This second auxiliary lip may thus represent 

 the inferior lip of the grinding Hexapoda. But here the pharynx is placed before that 

 lip, whereas in the Myriapoda it is situated before the first auxiliary lip. It is from 

 these considerations and affinities, and from others furnished by the Entomostraca 

 and Arachnides, that I consider the feet of the Hexapoda as analogous to the six 

 foot-jaws of the Crustacea Decapoda. 



t Itt this case they are but semi-annuli. See our general observations on the 

 order. 



