NOTES OS MILLIPEDES. 11 



the bases of the legs, and is broadest on the centre of the back, 

 where it is about twice the width of the intervening' yellow 

 spaces. The tail (last segment) is yellow, on its broader portion 

 obscurely banded once with reddish-brown, and the hinder 

 portion (as for instance the sides of the anal valves) are picked 

 out with reddish brown, the sharp tip of the tail is. in some 

 specimens, black. The legs are more or less shaded with light- 

 reddish brown, differing- in individuals. The position of the 

 foramen-repugnatorum is marked on the sides of the somites by 

 a dark grey half-moon shaped line. 



These big Thyropygi when caught in the hand do not 

 passively submit as most millipedes do, but twist about, rear up 

 their heads, and bite one's fingers with their jaws, but of course 

 without breaking the skin or hurting in the least : but their show 

 of resistance is so vigorous that anyone unaware of their harm- 

 less character would naturally not attempt to touch them twice. 



I have kept many individuals of this species in captivity ; 

 they feed readily on bananas, etc., but never seem to stop eatiug 

 as long as food is available. One I noted (as far as I was able 

 to attend to it) eat without stopping for fifteen hours on end. 

 The difficulty of keeping them alive is to strike the medium be- 

 tween starving them and allowing them to overeat themselves, 

 which results in a week or so in diarrhoea, and then death soon 

 supervenes. AVhile eating the lower jaws work away steadily 

 with a lateral in and out motion, and all the time the antennae 

 keep moving, examining every bit of food just before it enters 

 the mouth. The females seem always ready to eat. but the 

 males (in the early summer in Bangkok) suffer much from 

 sexual excitement, refuse to feed and become very pugnacious. 



In the jungle near Hinlap, 700 feet elevation, in the Dong 

 Phya Phai, Siam, I obtained three spejimens of a Tltyropygns, 

 T. bowringii or an allied form, in November 1897. A male 

 was 105 mm. m length, a female 180. The female rolled up 

 quietly when picked up. the male struggled hard, rearing its 

 head up off the ground and trying to bite. 



10. Thyropygus sp. 



At about 300 feet elevation on Bukit Timah, Singapore, on 

 the 19th Jan. 1896, I found one crawling among dead leaves in 



