62 MISC. PUBLICATION 657, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
cannot live under dry condi- 
tions. Centipedes are more cif- 
ficult to control. Any debris 
which offers concealment should 
be removed. For further infor- 
mation on centipedes and milli- 
pedes in houses see Back (70). 
SCORPIONS 
Orper SCORPIONIDA 
The scorpions, which are il- 
lustrated in literature so fre- 
quently that there is hardly any 
need to describe them, are resi- 
dents of warm climates. A few 
species occur in the Southern 
States and are common in the 
Southwest. Scorpions are noc- 
turnal, lying concealed under 
bark or stones during the day 
and feeding at night, chiefly on 
insects or “spiders. They kal 
their prey by means of a poison 
sting located on the tail and can 
inflict an injury very painful to 
man. The young are born alive 
and are carried by the mother 
for some time clinging to her 
body by means of their well- 
developed pincers. 
THE PSEUDOSCORPIONS 
ORDER 
PSEUDOSCORPIONIDA 
The pseudoscorpions resem- 
ble their larger relatives, but 
have a wide, short abdomen in- 
stead of the slender tail-like ab- 
domen, and they do not have the 
terminal poison gland. Their 
flattened bodies adapt them to 
a life in crevices under bark 
of dead trees, or in ants’ nests, 
where large numbers can often 
Ficure 3.—The house centipede (Scuti- be observed in all parts of the 
gera forceps). About natural size. country. Unlike the scorpions, 
the female lays eggs, and these 
are attached to her body in a mass. Both sexes have silk organs and 
spin weblike cocoons. The pseudoscorpions are predaceous on small 
animal life, such as mites and insects, and are probably destructive 
to the earlier stages of bark beetles. 
