64 CENTIPEDES AND MILLIPEDES. 



abdomen. Its bite is said by tlie natives to be fatal, and it 

 probably is so unless speedy measures are taken to cauterise 

 the wound. Dr. Vinson, a French naturalist, ascertained that 

 this spider is closely allied to the malignant Latrodcdus of 

 Elba and Corsica, whose bite is believed to be mortal, and 

 also to another species found in Martinique, which is equally 

 dangerous. He proposed for it the name of Latrodcctus mena- 

 vody. One of the crab-like spiders just alluded to is also 

 said to be deadly in its bite ; it probably requires a new 

 genus to be formed for its reception. 



While speaking of venomous creatures, it may be observed 

 that small scorpions are not uncommon in the warmer parts 

 of Madagascar, and that centipedes are numerous. These 

 latter have an unpleasant habit of getting into any small 

 hole or crevice in the woodwork of houses, often choosing the 

 hollows for the bolts of shutters and windows. One morn- 

 ing, just before getting up, I was startled to see a large 

 centipede six or seven inches long crawling over the mats of 

 our bedroom. Their bite is extremely painful, resembling — so 

 I have been told — the touch of a red-hot iron, but it is not 

 dangerous if some simple remedies are applied. 



Besides the venomous centipedes there are in the forest 

 great numbers of a perfectly harmless millipede, a series of 

 shining black rings, eight or nine inches long, with an infinity 

 of legs, which move like successive waves. And the mention 

 of this ringed creature brings me to notice another of the 

 Annulosa which is frequent in the forests. This animal is 

 called by the natives Tainkintana, lit., " star-droppings," and 

 is completely covered with a wonderfully beautiful coat of 

 mail, each segment 'folding upon the other, and finished at 

 the head by a helmet, and at the tail by another rounded and 

 hollow plate. These are so shaped that when the creature 

 is alarmed it rolls itself into a ball, every plate fitting into 

 the other, and forming an almost perfect sphere, from which 

 no force, save that of tearing it asunder, can induce it to un- 

 coil. There are two, if not more, species ; one, about six 

 inches long and one and a half inches wide, is of a beautifully 

 grained bronze, like Eussia leather ; the other is about half 

 that size, and is of a japanned black. But both present 



