Notes on the Millipedes, Centipedes, 

 Scorpions, etc., of the Malay- 

 Peninsula and Siam. 



By Captain Stanley S. Flotveb, 5th Fusiliees. 



I. Introductory Remarks. 



The animals which this paper is about, from their strange 

 shapes, curious habits and the power of inflicting dangerous 

 wounds which some possess, are of interest to most people, but 

 especially to those who, having been brought up in England, 

 where none but very small and harmless species exist, come to 

 live in the East Indies, where a wonderful variety of these 

 creatures flourish. However little one may care for natural 

 history, one must come in contact with them, millipedes, 

 centipedes, scorpions and spiders all entering houses and often 

 turning up where least wanted, even in one's bath-sponge and 

 bedding. When I arrived in the Straits Settlements, in March 

 1895, I knew practically nothing of these animals, how they 

 were classified, how to distinguish between them, or which 

 were poisonous and which harmless, and in no book or paper 

 could I find the information wanted, so I set to work to collect 

 and examine specimens, and compare them with such literature 

 on the subject as was available. Mr. R. J. Pocock, of the 

 British Museum of Natural History, most kindly gave me in- 

 valuable assistance in identifying specimens, and answering 

 questions of all sorts about these animals, and finally has been 

 so good as to look through my notes made in the Peninsula and 

 Siam from 1895 to 1898. These notes, then, I venture to lay 

 before the Society , hoping they may be of use to residents in 

 the Straits, Native States and Siam, who are interested in these 

 strange animals, and also hoping that they may help some more 

 competent writer to compose a full catalogue. 



The specimens I collected were distributed between the 

 British Museum, and the Royal Siamese Museum, Bangkok ; 

 except some now in the Raffles Museum. 



