SUPPLEMENT TO ORDER MYRIAPODA. 141 



insects, which they prick with the crotchets of their second 

 lip, just as the araneida do with the talons of their man- 

 dibles, and distil into the wound a very active poison, active 

 at least in its operation on those little animals, for they 

 perish instantly on its application. According to the ingenious 

 notion of M. Savigny, the mandibles of the araneida repre- 

 sent the second pair of the auxiliary jaws of the crustacea. 

 Now, in the chilopoda, the second lip also corresponds to 

 those same jaw-feet, and answers similar purposes. 



The inhabitants of warm climates are much afraid of these 

 insects, the species found there being very large, and their 

 poison, in all probability more active. There is one, even in 

 the southern provinces of France, the bite of which some- 

 times occasions very serious accidents. 



The ScoLOPENDu.E, are the only insects of this family 

 worth detaining the attention of the reader in this place. 

 They vary considerably in their dimensions. The largest of 

 those found in Europe, are little more than two inches long. 

 Those of India, are as much as eight. They are sometimes 

 termed millipedes. They will bite, or rather pinch with 

 considerable force. They live in the earth, in old rotten 

 wood, under stones, and in other humid places ; they feed 

 on earth-worms and living insects. Some species of them 

 emit a phosphoric light. 



These insects for a long time have been reputed venomous, 

 because when they are seized, they separate their crotchets 

 with which they attempt to bite, and in the place where they 

 have bitten, a painful inflammation ensues ; but according 

 to the report of travellers, though the pain occasioned by 

 the bite of the large scolopendrae of India, is much more 

 violent than that produced by the sting of the scorpion, yet 

 the consequences are not fatal. Leeuwenhoek, who has 

 examined the crotchets of these insects, has found near their 

 point an aperture, communicating with a cavity, which ex- 



