464 SOUTHERN EUROPE 



the so-called tarantula dance of southern Italy, which must not be mistaken for 

 the harmless and favourite tarantella dance of the same country. 



The spider-centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata), so named from its 



long and many-jointed legs, is found in the vine-growing districts 

 and also in central Europe, and on both shores of the Mediterranean. Rather less 

 than an inch in length, it is furnished with fifteen pairs of long, thin legs, of which 

 the hindmost are not used for running but are held high off the ground like the 

 bristle-shaped feelers. This loathsome creature, which shuns the light, lives by 

 preference in human habitations. With its legs and feelers groping in all directions, 

 it appears at night running on the walls of rooms in search of flies and the like, 

 which it encircles, quick as lightning, with its many-jointed legs, and poisons as it 

 bites them. Should other flies approach while it is feeding on one, they also 

 become its prey ; and in this way it has been observed to catch four flies whilst 

 eatino- one and to hold them in its legs until one after another had been devoured. 

 Of the crustaceans of the area under consideration, the river-crab 



{Telphusa fluviatilis) is notable as being the only European species 

 of a genus numerously represented in the warmer countries of the earth and con- 

 sisting entirely of fresh-water species. This crab lives beneath stones on the 

 borders of rivers and lakes and, as it was in ancient times, is often eaten at the 

 present day. 



While the fauna of central Europe differs somewhat consider- 

 Summaxy. . . .... 



ably from that of the southern division, a groat similarity exists 



between it and that of western Europe north of the Pyrenees. Several of its 



conspicuous species are, however, absent from the British Isles, where, on the other 



hand, we find amongst others the red grouse (Lagopus scoticus) and a local form 



of coal-tit (Parus ater britannicus). On the whole, however, the west European 



fauna is the same as that of central Europe, although less rich in the matter of 



specific types. 



As southern Europe together with North Africa and south-west Asia form the 



Mediterranean region, so a large part of western Europe, consisting of the northern 



coast of Spain, the greater part of France, with Belgium, Holland, and the British 



Isles, form part of the Baltic province to which also belong northern and 



central Europe, with the exception of the Danube valley. The far north of 



Europe together with the corresponding latitudes of Asia and America form the 



Boreal province of the great Holarctic region ; that region including all that part 



of Europe lying north of the Mediterranean region. In like manner the Siberian 



province is a continuation of the Baltic province, the two collectively forming the 



Baltic-Siberian area. Much the same may be said of the Eastern and Mediterranean 



areas, which, together with the Caspian district, form a life-region extending 



eastward to the Chinese Empire. Europe is indeed to a certain extent an appanage 



of Asia, so that in Asia north of the Himalaya a fauna in many respects similar to 



that of Europe may be looked for. 



