The Mammals of the Edinhiirgh or Forth Area. 405 



report was kindly con tinned by Mr MaciSTaught Campbell 

 in a letter to me. I was at Kincardine a few days after 

 the capture of the animal, and was informed that it had 

 been observed passing up and down the channel with the 

 tide almost daily for over a fortniglit. I have since seen 

 the specimen ( ^ ) in tlie taxidermist's hands in Glasgow. 



A skull and attached neck-vertebrae of this species, 

 taken up in a trawl about 16 miles east of the Isle of May 

 in August 1897, were sent to the Edinburgh Museum, as 

 recorded by Dr Traquair in tlie Ann. Scot. Nat. Hid., 

 1899, p. 197. 



XXY. The Myi'iapods {Centipedes and llillijMdes) of the 

 Forth Area. By William Evans, F.K.S.E. 



(Read 26th February 1906.) 



The Centipedes and Millipedes, or, as they are collectively 

 called, the Myriapods, are still among the "neglected" 

 groups, so far as the British Islands are concerned. This 

 neglect was remarked upon by INTewport long ago, and after 

 the lapse of more than sixty years it is strange to think 

 that a book on the British species has yet to be written. 

 No one, probably, has studied them more thoroughly than 

 Mr E. I. Pocock, and I have been hoping for some years 

 past to see a full account, or at least a synopsis, of the 

 known British species from his pen. Judged by the ordinary 

 standards, Myriapods are certainly not attractive creatures ; 

 yet to the zoologist few groups are of greater interest. 

 Popular prejudice, and the fact that they are not showy 

 objects for display in a cabinet are doubtless mainly respon- 

 sible for their neglect by collectors ; but the want of an 

 English treatise for their identification must have deterred 

 not a few field-naturalists with more advanced ideas from 

 working at them. Consequently local lists of them are 

 exceedingly few and incomplete, and very little is known 

 from actual observation regarding their distribution in this 

 country. 



The number of known British Centipedes and Millipedes 



