318 THE CENTIPEDE. 



stitutes a bilobate lamp of great brilliancy, emitting a 

 much yellower light than the generality of this tribe. 

 It has a voluntary power of suppressing or evolving 

 the shining property of its lantern, and when handled, 

 feigns death, at the same time hiding its light, until the 

 danger is passed. There are yellow non-luminous spots 

 on all the other segments, and the upper part of the body 

 is dark brown, approaching to black. The legs are 

 brown, with the exception of the distal ends of the femur 

 and the tarsus, which are of a lighter colour. The head 

 is furnished with a retractile proboscis, having a yellow 

 sheath. 



The Centipede of this group lays her eggs under flat 

 stones, to the number of about twelve or fourteen. They 

 are of a semi-transparent straw colour, and the female 

 coils herself around them like a snake. In the egg, the 

 young one is pale, transparent, light-yellow, perfectly 

 globular, with a slit or mark like the hilum of a seed ; 

 this slit afterwards forms a deep furrow, and then a wide 

 fissure, one side of which is somewhat more produced 

 and becomes the head, and the other, folded inwards, is 

 the tail and remainder of the body. A large dark spot 

 then appears on each side of the head, which are the eyes, 

 and three short legs protrude from the skin towards the 

 anterior part of the body. Immediately after their ex- 

 trusion from the egg, the helpless young are nearly pellu- 

 cid and yellowish, with great black eyes, rounded bodies, 

 big heads, and rudimental legs ; the segments are but 

 faintly marked, and the little animal is bent upon itself like 

 a larva of a Cockchafer ; the antennae show themselves by 

 degrees, the other members make their appearance, and, 



