Centipedes and Millipedes 



679 



they pass through no metamorphoses, nor do they moult. Instead of this, they begin their 

 existence, on quitting the egg, without legs, or with only three pairs of legs, and continue to 

 add to the number of their segments and legs until they have attained their full growth. 

 They are called Centi[)edes, or Hundred-legs, and IMillipedes, or Thousand-legs ; but in the 

 majority of species the number of legs is consideral)ly below 100, though in some few it may 

 exceed 300. 



The Centipedes have only one pair of legs attached to each segment of the body, and 

 are carnivorous, being armed with a pair of strong mandibles, which are perforated poison- 

 fangs. The British species are all small and harmless, but the bite of the large tropical 

 centipedes is more painful and almost as dangerous as that of a snake. Centipedes are long, 

 broad, flattened creatures, with about twenty-one jiairs of legs, and sometimes measure more 

 than a foot in length. A reddish centipede, belonging to an allied family, is common in 

 England under stones and in loose mould. It has long antennae and fifteen pairs of legs,, 

 and feeds chiefly on worms. It is about an inch long. 



Photo iij IF. P. Dandn, F.Z.S.] 



[lUgeiU's Park. 



GIANT CENTIPEDE. 

 Most centipedes have considerably fewer than a hundred leg 



The Electric Centipedes are much longer and more slender than the others in proportion 

 to their length, with rather short antennas, and short and very numerous legs. They are of 

 a white or yellow colour, and 2 or 3 inches long. All are nocturnal in their habits, and 

 feed on decaying animal or vegetable matter, and are fond of ripe fruit. They emit a pale 

 phosphorescence, visible in the dark along the track over which they have crawled. 



Millipedes are not venomous, and feed chiefly on soft vegetable matter. Except the first 

 three behind the head, which are provided with only one pair each, e^•ery segment bears two- 

 pairs instead of one pair of legs. The Common Snake-millipede is about an inch and a. 

 half long, and is brown, with yellow rings and ninety-nine pairs of short white legs. It is- 

 nearly as destructive as the Wire-worms, which it resembles in its habits, and may often be 

 seen clinging to a partly eaten potato. Millipedes are able to roll themselves up into a. 

 spiral. Many foreign kinds grow to a much larger size, measuring nearly a foot in length. 

 They are more frequently sent to Europe from foreign countries than centipedes, probably 

 because they are sluggish, harmless creatures which do not bite. 



The members of one family of millipedes, called Pill-millipedes, are so similar to wood-hce 



