156 AMETABOLA. 



by night, nearly as bright as that of the glow-worm. This insect 

 is found in foot-paths near London, leaving a strong light upon the 

 fingers when handled. It resides under stones and in moss during 

 the day. It is about three quarters of an inch long, of a dirty buff 

 colour, with a black hue down the back. It is destitute of eyes, at 

 least the small shining tubercles upon the head of the common sco- 

 lopendra, which have been regarded by all authors as eyes, are here 

 entirely obhterated. This is a remarkable circumstance with refer- 

 ence to the luminosity of the insect, as it has generally been sup- 

 posed that the emission of this kind of light by insects, has for its 

 object the enticement of its opposite sex, which in this instance 

 would of course be unable to see or be attracted by the light of its 

 mate. Dr. Leach observed beneath the earth in a garden, in the 

 month of January, a cavity containing a female Geophilus subter- 

 raneus, and twenty-six young ones, varying very much in the num- 

 ber of their legs ; they were of a pale yellow colour, with their 

 heads darker yellow, and the joints of their legs slightly ferrugi- 

 nous. — Zoological Miscellany, vol. iii. p. 44. 



Dr. Leach, in the Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Bri- 

 tannica, has divided this order into three families. 



1. The Cermatiidce [Incequipedes of Latreille's Com-s 

 d'Entomologie), having the body proportionably short, with 

 the upper surface protected by eight plates, and with the 

 under divided into fifteen semi-segments, each bearing a pair 

 of legs, terminated by a very long and multi-articulate tar- 

 sus. This family, w^hich is composed of the single genus 

 Cermatia, is formed of exotic insects, frequently found in 

 houses under beams or joists of the wood- work, running 

 with great velocity, and often losing many of its legs when 

 seized. 



2. The Scolopendridce {^quipedes Latreille), having the 

 body divided, both on its upper and under surface, into 

 an equal number of segments ; the legs short, and of nearly 

 equal size, the posterior pairs being but little longer than 

 the anterior. Here belong the true Centipedes, Scolopendra, 

 and the genera Cryptops and Lithobius, of each of which 

 there are British species. 



