MILLIPEDES. 329 



rocks and in the crevices of trees. I was stung by one on the 

 thumb, but the pain was trifling and soon passed away.^ 



A species of lulus or Millipede, which attains a length of from 6 

 to 7 inches, is commonly found in the eastern islands of the Solomon 

 Group on the trunks of fallen trees and amongst decaying vegetable 

 debris. It is often to be seen amongst the rotting leaves that have 

 gathered inside the bases of the fronds of the Bird's-nest Fern 

 (Asplenium nidus). These Mjaiapods seem to be less frequent in 

 the islands of Bougainville Straits towards the opposite end of the 

 group, as I do not remember seeing any large lull in that locality : 

 their place appears to be taken by another Myriapod, apparently a 

 Polydesmus, growing to a length of 2^- inches, which I found 

 amongst decajnng vegetation at all elevations up to 1900 feet above 

 the sea, as on tiie summit of Faro Island. But to return to the lull, 

 I should remark that this genus of Myriapods evidently possesses 

 some means of transportal across wide tracts of sea, since, amongst 

 other islands similarly situated, it is found in Tristan da Cunha,^ in 

 the South Atlantic Ocean, and I have found it in the Sej^chelles, in 

 the Indian Ocean. The habits of these Millipedes would render it 

 highly probable that they have reached the oceanic islands on vege- 

 table drift, such as floating logs. It is, however, a noteworthy cir- 

 cumstance that they do not seem to be able to withstand immersion 

 in sea-water for an}^ length of time. In experimenting on the 

 Solomon Island species, I found that they were able to survive an 

 hour-and-a-half's complete immersion in sea- water, but that an im- 

 mersion of three hours killed them. One individual, out of several 

 experimented on, survived for twelve hours after it was taken out, 

 but only in a half lifeless condition.^ It may, therefore, have been 

 that the lulus has been transported to oceanic islands by such 

 agencies as canoes and ships, rather than by means of floating 

 trees.* 



Like other species of the genus, the Solomon Island lulus ex- 

 hales a very pungent and disagreeable odour, which is caused by an 

 acrid fluid secreted by small vesicles, of which each segment of the 



^ Specimens of these scorpions were given by me to the Australian Museum, Sydney. 



~ Moseley's "Naturalist on tlie Challenger," p. 134. 



3 This species of lulus was able to sustain a longer submersion in fresh-water, without 

 apparently any injurious effects. Those experimented on recovered after being kept under 

 water for four hours, but died after a submersion of six hours. 



^ As bearing on this point, it miglit be interesting to determine whether these large luli 

 occur on islands far from land which are believed never to have been inhabited. 



