674 



CHILOPODA. 



The genus Bothropolys of "Wood, differs in having small, 

 almost round punctiform excoriations arranged in three or 

 four series on the coxa. The B. muUidentatics of Newport is 

 found in the Eastern United States, and is recognized by 

 having from thirt3'-two to thirt^^-seven ocelli on each side of 

 the head. 



ScoLOPENDRiD^E Lcach. The Centipede is the type of this 

 famil3^ There are from twentj'-onc to twenty-three feet-bear- 

 ing segments, with few or no ocelli, while the last pair of feet 

 ■are thickened and generally spinous. This genus comprises 

 the most gigantic of all Myriapods, Scolopendra 

 gfgantea Linn, from the East Indies, being nine 

 inches long. S. heros Girard is our largest 

 species, and is found in the Southern States. 

 The bite of the Centipede is dangerous ; the 

 poison is conveyed from two glands in the 

 throat, along a canal in the jaws. 



The genus Scolopocryiitojos differs in having 

 no ocelli, and twenty-three feet-bearing seg- 

 ments, while the antennje are seventeen-jointed. 

 S. sexspinosa Say (Fig. 646) is common about 

 Philadelphia, and is found in Iowa ; it is deep 

 orange, with yellow, somewhat compressed feet, 

 with three spines on each of the last pair of 

 feet. Wood describes the manner of moulting 

 in this species. The skin had been crowded back 

 so as to cover only the last two or thi'ee rings. The cast skin 

 contains the skin of the head and all its appendages, even to 

 the maxillae and maxillary palpi. The anterior portion of the 

 skin w^as so torn as to show that the process of shedding proba- 

 bly began by the creature's -withdrawing its head from its case, 

 and then thrusting it out between soma of the anterior sterna, 

 completing the process by pushing the skin back with its legs, 

 and aiding them by a peculiar wriggling motion. The exuvia 

 had most of the posterior segments entire, showing that the 

 occupant had been withdrawn from it like a hand from a glove." 

 "Wood also states that the female guards her young by laying 

 on her side, and then coiling her body passes them along by a 



Fig. 643. 



