160 CENTIPEDES 



a plate of armour ; while the head and tail are defended by 

 larger plates, each of which fits into the other and makes a more 

 perfectly fitting suit of armour than was ever worn by medieval 

 knight. There are several species of these pretty and curious 

 creatures. The most common kind here is one which forms a 

 ball barely an inch in diameter and shining black in colour. 

 Another, more rarely seen in the interior open country, but 

 common enough in the upper belt of forest, is of a beautiful 

 brown colour like russia leather, and is quite double the size of 

 the first-mentioned one. In passing through the main forest in 

 1892, we came suddenly one day to a part of the road which 

 was so thickly covered by such a great number of these creatures 

 that our bearers could not avoid trampling on them. These 

 were of a bronze-green tint and belong to a third species, and 

 were quite three inches in length. Other species of these 

 Sphserotheria are found in Africa, Asia, Australia and some of 

 the neighbouring islands. 



Another many-footed and wingless creature is common 

 enough in the upper forest, for we often found it on the upper 

 verandah of the house at Andrangaloaka ; this is a shining 

 black millipede, about a foot in length, and half to three-quarters 

 of an inch in thickness. It is called by the natives Kodikbdy, 

 and its numerous reddish legs, not far short of a thousand in 

 number, have a curious effect of successive waves as it moves 

 along. Although not very inviting in appearance, it is quite 

 harmless and is a vegetable feeder. There is another species, 

 which is marked longitudinally with black and red stripes. 



More unpleasant by far is another many-legged creature, the 

 centipede, whose sting is said to be exceedingly painful, 

 resembling the puncture of a hot iron, and which is not un- 

 common in the interior as well as in the forest. The mere 

 touch of its minute claws, if it happens to crawl over one, is said 

 to produce pain and inflammation. I have turned small 

 centipedes out of the hole in a window-sill where the bolt would 

 fall ; and I remember one morning, before getting out of bed, 

 seeing a pretty large one marching across our bedroom floor. 

 Happily these, which are among the few noxious creatures we 

 have in Madagascar, are not very common. Another un- 

 pleasant visitor is the scorpion, which is rather apt to get into 

 a house which has much stonework in the basement ; we 



