330 MILLIPEDES. 



body contains a pair.^ On holding my nose for a moment over the 

 mouth of a bottle, containing two of these large Millipedes, I ex- 

 perienced a strong sensation in the nasal passages, reminding me 

 much of the effects of an inhalation of chlorine gas. I had pre- 

 viously learned from resident traders tiiat these Millipedes have a 

 habit of ejecting an acrid fluid when disturbed, which, if it entered 

 the eye, was liable to cause acute inflammation ; and the instance 

 was related to me of the captain of some ship, trading in these 

 islands, who lost the sight of one of his eyes from this cause. Mr. 

 C. F. Wood learned from the natives of St. Christoval, in 1873, that 

 these Myriapods "could squirt out a poisonous juice, Avhich was 

 dangerous if it happened to touch one's eye;" but he adds, "there 

 seemed no great probability of their doing this." ^ However, I 

 usually found that native testimony, in such matters, was ver}^ re- 

 liable ; and in the instance of this reputed habit of the lulus, my 

 personal experience has convinced me of its reality. Whilst hand- 

 ling one of these Millipedes as it lay on the trunk of a fallen tree in 

 Ugi Island, I felt a sudden smarting sensation in the right eye, 

 caused apparently by some fluid ejected into it. Remembering the 

 injurious effect attributed to this habit of the lulus, I at once 

 plunged my head under the water of a stream, in which I .liappened 

 to be standing up to my waist, and I kept my eye open to wash 

 away the offending fluid. During the remainder of the day, there 

 was an uncomfortable feeling in the eye and somewhat increased 

 lachrymation ; but on the following morning these effects had dis- 

 appeared. At the time of this occurrence, my face was removed 

 about a foot from the Millipede ; and, although I was uncertain 

 from what part of the body the fluid was ejected, I did not care, 

 under the circumstances, to continue the inquiry. 



Amono-st the first livino- creatures to i^reet the visitor as he lands 

 on the beach of a coral island in the Pacific, is a small species of 

 Hermit-Crab, belonging to the genus Coenobita, which frequents the 

 beach in great numbers. The crab withdraws itself just within the 

 mouth of the shell, where it forms a perfect operculum, by means 

 mainly of the large flattened chelcs of the left great claw which is 

 arched over by the left leg of the third pair, whilst the right claw 

 and the right leg of the second pair serve to complete the shield, 



1 Hoeven's Zoology. (Eng. edit.) Vol. I., p. 291. 



' "A Yachting Cruise in the South Seas," p. 131. (London, 1875.) ., 



