336 ZOOLOGY. 



spiracular openings, with no chitinous edge, this form cannot 

 be placed among the Myriopods. It is certainly not a worm, 

 but, on the whole, connects the worms with the sucking 

 Myriopods, and suggests that the insects may have descended 

 from forms somewhat like Peripatus. Peripatus iuUformis 

 inhabits the West Indies, and either P. Edwardsii Blanch- 

 ard, or an undescribed species about four centimetres in 

 length (with twenty-seven pairs of legs), inhabits the Isth- 

 mus of Panama. The name Malacopoda was proposed by 

 De Blainville, who suggested that Peripatus connected the 

 Myriopods with the Annelids. 



Class II. — Myeiopoda {Centipedes, etc.). 



Characters of Myriopoda. — The centipedes and millepedes 

 are distinguished by their cylindrical body, the abdominal seg- 

 ments being numerous and similar to the thoracic segments, 

 all provided with a pair of feet. The head bears a pair of 

 antennae, but the jaws are not homologous with those of in- 

 sects. The internal oi'ganization is simple, like that of the 

 larvae of insects. Some 8colopendrce are said to be viviparous. 



Order 1. Diplopoda. — To this group belong the mille- 

 pedes, Julus, etc. (Figs. 299-302). The first maxillae are 

 absent. The segments are round or flattened, and the feet 

 are inserted near together, the sternum being undeveloped. 

 In some forms (Fig. 299, Scoterpes Copei Packard, from 

 Mammoth Cave) the body is hairy. They are all harmless. 

 The eggs are laid in large numbers an inch or two beneath 

 the surface of the earth. They undergo total segmentation, 

 and in a few days the larva (Fig. 300) hatches. At this time 

 it bears a resemblance to a Podura, having but three pairs 

 of feet, the third pair attached to the fourth thoracic seg- 

 ment. After a series of moults, new segments and new feet 

 appear, and thus these Myriopods undergo a distinct meta- 

 morphosis. The species feed on dead leaves and fruit. 



Order 2. Pauropoda. — The two orders of Myriopods are 

 connected by Pauropus, which by Lubbock is regarded as 

 the type of a distinct order {Pauropoda). Our only species, 

 Pauropus Lubhockii Pack. (Fig. 304), consists of six seg- 

 ments besides the head, and the young Pauropus has but 



