280 



CHILOGSATIIA.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-Jui.us. 



sliident afford materials of the highest interest. The 

 Cliilojioda are predaceous in tlieir liabits, and seize their 

 prey with the foot-jaws, which, in fact, represent the 

 mandibles in the majority of the Articulata. 



In the family Scolopciuh-a arefound the giants of the 

 order, S. girjas measuring from ten to thirteen inches in 

 length; it is of a i-eddish chestnut colonr, and is truly a 



Scolopeadra gifjas. 



most repulsive and formidable-looking creature. There 

 are about forty species known of this genus alone ; they 

 inhabit India and the adjacent islands, Africa, and Ame- 



rica. It is in the hottest parts of the world they attain 

 their largest size. S. gigas is found in South America. 

 Cormocejihalus lobidcns has twenty-one segments, 

 consequently forty-two legs. The Gombregmattis Cu- 

 mingl of Newport is 4 j inches long, and has IGl pair 

 of legs. In the genus GeophUus, one species, G. xan- 

 thiiius, is six inches long, of a narrow tape-like form, 



and of a reddish- 

 yellow colour ; it 

 is furnished with 

 IG2 pair of legs. 

 In G.Savignianus 

 we have a species 

 possessing the as- 

 tonishing number 

 of 210 pair of legs; 

 this species is about three inches long. The species, at 

 least some of them belonging to the genera Geuphilus 

 and Scolopcndra, are at times brilliantly phosphoric. 



Okder— CIIILOGNATIIA. 



The order Ciiilognatiia forms the second division of 

 the class Myriapoda ; in these the body is orustaceous, 

 and in many short and cyliudrical ; the antennas are 

 more or less thickened at the tips; the legs are short 

 and terminated by a claw; the mandibles are short, 

 having the form of true mandibles, and adapted for eat- 

 ing or comminuting vegetable matter, on which they 

 subsist. Some of the species very closely approach the 

 Annelida. lu some species the first, and somtirnes the 

 second segment also, are the largest, and represent as 

 it were a corselet or shield. Some of the anterior and 

 also the apical segments are not furnished with feet. 

 Many of the species have the power of rolling themselves 

 up into a ball. They have from thirty-two to thirty- 

 four legs in the Onisciform genus Glomeris, the species 

 of which resemble the common wood-louse. 



In the genus Zcp/ironia the antenna are si.\ -jointed, 

 clavate, and truncated at the apex ; the species are 

 exotic, and are exactly like gigantic OHiscj (Wood-lice) ; 

 their prevailing colours are brown, chc-stnut, and clay 

 colour; one species, Zephronia versicolor, is black, with 

 beautiful irregular-shaped yellow mottlings. The largest 

 known species measures 

 nearly 2-^ inches in length. 



The genus Polydesmtis 

 contains a series of insects 

 of an elongated form, the 

 body being composed of a 

 seines of eighteen distinct 

 segments, exclusive of the 



head. The segments are transverse, with the anterior 

 lateral angles usually rounded ; the posterior being 

 generally acute, sometimes booked backwards. The 

 largest known species is from Borneo, is 3J inches long, 

 and has the lateral margins of the segments denticulate. 



The gemis SpiroUreptus contains some of the giants 

 of the order; it consists of numerous species. Fifteen 



are described in Newport's monograph of the order. 

 The species are principally from India, the Indian 

 Archipelago, and Africa — one has been found in New 

 Zealand, Spirostreptus nntipodarum. 



The genus Julus is allied to the Centipedes, but has 

 the body cylindrical ; the number of legs is very great, 

 they have consequently been well named Millipedes. 

 They can scarcely be said to run, but glide along much 

 in the manner of a worm ; occasionally, on being dis- 

 turbed, twisting themselves up into a spiral form. Their 

 bodies are hard and not easily crushed, except by violent 

 pressure or by a blow. They have denticulated jaws, 

 and their eyes are divided by hexagonal convexities. 

 One species of Julus is very common under vegetable 

 refuse, and in banks of light earth, &c. ; it is of a shin- 

 ing black colour, about \h inches long — this is the J. 

 sahuloszis. It is oviparous ; the young when first born 

 have only three pair of legs, but as they increase in size 

 they acquire additional numbers, not less than 100 pairs. 

 The largest known species is the Spirostreptus fasciatus, 

 which is eight inches in length ; Spirostreptus ohtusus 



Fig. 182. 



(fig. 182) measures about 5j inches. In the genus 

 Polyelesinus the eyes are obsolete. 



Monographs of the species comprising the orders 

 Chilopoda and Chilognatha have been published in 

 Leach's "Zoological Miscellany," and more recently by 

 Mr. G. Newport, in the Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History, 18-14. 



END OF INSECTS. 



