25 



found under sticks and logs, especially in moist rich woods, and they are said to feed on 

 vegetable substances, and also on dead earthworms and snails. Van der Hoeven says, " In 

 the spring the female deposits her eggs in masses of sixty or seventy, in a hole excavated 

 for the purpose under the ground ; after three weeks or more the young make their ap- 

 pearance." The body of Julus Canadensis consists of fifty-three rings or segments, its co- 

 lour is chesnut brown, and it is ornamented with a black line down the back and a row of 

 black dots along each side. 



To many timid persons these creatures are a source of terror, on account of the po- 

 pular belief in their being poisonous, and many would as soon think of handling a snake 

 as of touching any one of them ; this belief is however entirely without foundation, for 

 none of the members of this interesting family are known to be poisonous, and we have 

 handled many a score of them without experiencing the least degree of unpleasantness, in 

 short it may be confidently asserted they are perfectly harmless. 



