CENTIPEDES. 



207 





CENTIPEDE (Scolopendra morsitans) DEVOURING A BEETLE LARVA 

 (reduced). 



centipedes may be said to have a pair of feelers at each end of the body. The 

 On/ptopidcB resemble the preceding in being blind, but have only twenty-one pairs 

 of legs. They are all of small size, rarely exceeding an inch in length, and are 

 spread all over the world, extending farther to the north than any other forms. 

 One, namely, Cryptops hortensis, is by no means uncommon in England. The most 

 important forms belong, however, to the Scolopendridce, which in number of 

 genera and species is far superior to the others. Like the Cryptopidce they have 

 twenty-one pairs of legs, but the 

 tarsi of these appendages are 

 bisegmented, and there are four 

 eyes on each side of the head. 

 From the shores of the Mediter- 

 ranean in the west, and from 

 China and Japan in the east, 

 this family spreads southwards 

 over the entire Eastern Hemi- 

 sphere, while in America it 

 ranges from the Southern 

 United States to Chili and 

 Argentina. The larger members 



of the group are a foot in length, and very venomous, although their bite is seldom 

 fatal to man. The Scolopendridce live under stones and logs, and in the tropics 

 frequently take refuge in bedding, boots, or clothes. Their food consists principally 

 of cockroaches, beetles, worms, etc. ; but they do not seem to be particular as to 



diet, since some have been found devouring lizards of 

 larger size than themselves, and one kept for more than 

 a year in the London Zoological Gardens was fed upon 

 mice. The female lays her eggs in clusters like berries 

 on the ground in some damp obscure place, and coiling 

 herself round them remains immovable until the young 

 are hatched and have gained strength enough to scatter 

 in search of prey. When kept without food in captivity 

 the mother will feed upon her young. The growth of 

 these centipedes, and probably of all members of the 

 group, is accompanied by casting of the entire integu- 

 ment. The membrane at the back and sides of the head 

 splits, the head-plate turns forwards, and through the 

 aperture thus made the new centipede gradually 

 struggles, leaving behind the old skin with its posterior 

 segments retracted within those that lie in front like 

 the pieces of a telescope. The genera of Scolopendridce 

 present a strong family likeness to each other ; one of 

 the most remarkable being the African Alipes, which 

 has the last three segments of the last pair of legs 



flattened and leaf -like. The reason of this modification is unknown, but the 

 creature is said to make a noise by knocking and rubbing its legs together. 



UPPER SURFACE OF HEAD OF 



Geophilus temcitarsus (much 

 enlarged). 



