204 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY chap, xiii 



ground (Fig. 135, L). The movement of these legs is very 

 difficult to follow, and it was the consideration of this problem 

 which inspired the following lines, quoted by Professor Eay 

 Lankester in Nature (1889) ; — 



A centipede was happy — quite ! 



Until a toad in fun 



Said, " Pray which leg moves after which ? " 



This raised her doubts to such a pitch, 



She fell exhausted in the ditch, 



Not knowing how to run ! 



, .. Another Centipede common in the south of 



England is Geophilus, a long-bodied, light-coloured, 

 wriggling form (Fig. 135, G). This creature has often over a 

 hundred segments to its body. It has no eyes. The young, 

 which hatch from the eggs laid in the ground, have from the 

 beginning their full number of legs. Some Geophilidae are 

 phosphorescent. 



