THE CENTIPEDE. . 517 



their being annoyed during the night by these hor- 

 rible reptiles *. 



They vary greatly both in size and colour. Some 

 of them are of a deep reddish brown, others of a yel- 

 low ochre colour, livid yellow, or tinged with red ; 

 and they are sometimes seen above a foot in length: 

 they are, however, generally much less. Their legs 

 terminate in very sharp hooks or nails of a shining 

 black colour ; and all the other legs are furnished 

 with smaller ones of the same kind. 



Gronovius says that all the feet are venomous ; 

 but the most formidable weapons of this creature 

 are the two sharp hooked instruments, that are 

 placed under the mouth, with which it destroys its 

 prey. At the extremity of each of these there is a 

 small opening, and from thence extends a tube, 

 through which it is supposed the Centipede emits 

 the poisonous fluid into the wound inflicted by these 

 fangs. 



Leuwenhoek, desirous of ascertaining the influ- 

 ence 01 the poison, placed a large fly within the 

 reach of a Centipede. He seized it between a pair 

 of the middle feet, then passed it from one pair to 

 the next, till it was brought under the fangs ; which 

 were plunged into its body, and it died instantly. 

 St. Pierre says that, in the Isle of France his dog 

 was bitten by one of them that was upwards of six 

 inches in length, and that the wound turned to a 

 kind of ulcer, which was three weeks in healing. He 



* Synonyms..— —Scolopendra morsitans. Linn. Great Sco- 



lopcndra. Shaw's Nat, Mis.—— Centipee, in the West Indies. 



H3 



