MYRIAPODS. 



99 



roach ; a half dozen earwigs, Labia burgessi Scudd. ; 

 a colony of "white ants;" two centipedes, Scolopen- 

 dra morsitans L. ; two large millipedes, Spirobolus 

 spinigerus Wood, and several smaller myriapods, 

 members of the genus Lifhdbius. It was surely a 

 "happy family," living seemingly in peace and unity 

 beneath the bark of the old pine log. 



The true myriapods are always to me a group of 

 more than passing interest ; since they are the typical 

 representatives of that great branch of 

 Arthropods, which comprises all insects 

 and crustaceans. Active are they, and 

 when the protective shelter of bark, 

 chunk or chip is raised from above 

 them, away they scamper, seeking an- 

 other hiding place beneath some leaf or 

 lump of mold. Handsome, too, are 

 some of them, especially the long, slen- 

 der Scolopendrid, with its clear bluish- 

 green body. Their food, in the main, 

 the juices of decaying vegetation, their 

 lives are spent in and about these old 

 logs in the midst of plenty. Perchance, 

 at times, a shrew, salamander or carniv- 

 orous beetle covets the protoplasm which 

 they have stored, and makes of them a meal; but, 

 otherwise, methinks, the moments pass quietly, un- 

 noted and unsung, until at last they yield back to 

 Mother Earth the dust which is her own. 



Fig. 32. 

 A Myriapod. 



