THE MILLEPEDES. 155 



specimens from the forests of the equatorial part of the latter region over a foot in length. According 

 to Ulloa, Centipedes were to be seen in Carthagena in his day three feet long and four or live inches broad. 

 The GJEOPHILIDES, which are entirely destitute of ocelli, differ further from the preceding in 

 having the body extremely long and slender, composed of from fifty to over one hundred segments. 

 The tarsi are of a single joint. Some of the exotic species of this group attain a great length and an 

 enormous number of segments. Thus Geophilus cumingii, from the Philippines, is five inches long, 

 and contains 160 segments, and G. gabrielis, from the Canaries, grows to a length of over seven inches, 

 and shows 163 pairs of legs. A good many Geophili inhabit Europe, and we have several in Britain, 

 such as Geophilus lonyicornis, which grows to a length of three inches, and has fifty-five pairs of legs, 

 and G. subterraneus, a species half an inch longer and with a considerably larger number of segments 

 (seventy-eight to eighty-three). Both these species are common, and may frequently be turned up in 

 garden ground, where they live upon the larvae of insects and other soft-bodied creatures met with in 

 such situations. Geophilus lonyicornis is luminous in the dark, and another British species has received 

 the name of Geophilus electricus, on account of its manifesting the same property very strikingly. 



ORDER II. CHILOGNATHA. 



In this second order of Myriopoda the head is usually large and placed perpendicularly, and 

 all the three so-called thoracic segments have the dorsal part freely developed; nor are the limbs of the 

 first two segments converted into organs connected with the mouth. The number of body-segments 

 varies between nine and eighty or more, and the form of the segments is also very variable, 

 but each apparent segment beyond the fourth or fifth is furnished with two pairs of legs, and with 

 two pairs of regular stigmata placed near the origin of these limbs. The limbs are sometimes 

 deficient on the first thoracic segment. In internal structure the Chilognatha present some 

 peculiarities. The main tracheae do not unite after the insect type, but form branching tufts, 

 the fine ramifications of which run to the neighbouring organs; and the organs of reproduction in the 

 great majority do not open at the posterior of the body, but in the coxae of the second or third 

 pair of legs. The males are provided with peculiar copulatory organs in the sixth or seventh 

 segment, which in this case wants one or both pairs of legs. The eggs are deposited in a mass 

 in a cavity of the earth. The form of the newly-hatched young, and its progress towards the 

 adult condition, have already been indicated (see figures on p. 152). The presence of two pairs of limbs 

 upon each ring of the body would seem to show that these may be really equivalent to two 

 segments united. We may recognise the following four families : 



FAMILY I. JULID^, OR MILLEPEDES. 



The Julidae, commonly known as Millepedes, from the great number of their legs, sometimes 

 called Galley Worms, a name which more properly belongs to the Scolopendridae, and sometimes, 

 erroneously, Wire Worms, have usually a long cylindrical body, composed of segments which form 

 a complete horny ring, the dorsal plate surrounding the whole body, with the exception of a 

 very small sternal piece firmly united to it by sutures, in which piece are situated the inser- 

 tions of the legs and the small stigmata. The bases of the legs are thus brought close together 

 and to the middle line of the body. The head is large, with short antennae, and aggregated ocelli, 

 which, however, are sometimes entirely wanting ; and the mouth is formed for biting. 



These animals are distributed in all parts of the world, the largest species occurring in the 

 tropics. They are nocturnal, and live in. or on the ground, and under stones and the bark of trees. 

 They move slowly, creeping along by means of their short and slender legs, the motion of which 

 presents a curious spectacle. Their food consists of both animal and vegetable matters ; they also 

 attack fleshy, growing roots, a propensity that often causes them to be mischievous. The species are 

 numerous, and most of them have the power of emitting an acrid fluid of disagreeable odour from 

 small apertures pierced in the dorsal part of the segments, which have been mistaken for stigmata 

 by some observers. One of the best known species is the Julus sabulosus, a dark greyish- 

 brown or blackish creature, about one inch and a half long, with the borders of the segments 

 lighter, and two reddish lines down the back; and another, perhaps equally abundant, is the 

 Julns teri'estris, which is similar, but rather smaller, and destitute of the two reddish dorsal 



