Millipedes and Centipedes. 



so in this country. Millipedes are often known as " false wire- 

 worms," but they can easily be told from the true wireworm (see 

 Leaflet io) by the great number of legs. 



The most injurious millipedes belong to the families Julidce 

 and Polydesmidcz. The latter are the flattened snake millipedes, 

 the injurious species being shown in Fig. 2. The most trouble- 

 some species is Julus pidcJiellus (Fig. i). This is nearly half an 

 inch long, slender, about the thickness of a fair-sized pin, pale 

 yellowish-pink in colour, with a double row of purple spots on 

 it. Julus terrestrzs, another common species, is black and has 

 a pointed tail. These Jtdidce feed upon all manner of roots. 

 The smaller Julus pulchellus also eats into potatoes and lilies, 

 often hollowing them out completely ; the larger species, 

 according to some observers, also feed upon snails, slugs, and 

 some insects. The common species of flattened millipedes, 

 Polydesmus coniplanatus (Fig. 2), is of a pale purplish-white to 

 dull rosy tint, and is nearly an inch long, with the sides notched. 



The female millipede (Julus terrestris) deposits her eggs 

 from May to July in a nest made of pieces of earth fastened 

 together with saliva ; this nest is round in form and has a small 

 hole at the top through which the eggs are dropped. The eggs 

 vary in number from 60 to 100. The hole is then stopped up 

 and the eggs mature in from 10 to 14 days. The young milli- 

 pedes have only three pairs of legs, the others appear in groups 

 by degrees. Growth in a millipede takes place by lengthening at 

 the posterior end, the growth evidently taking place between 

 the penultimate and last segments. Miss Ormerod states that 

 millipedes lay their eggs from December to May, but as this 

 does not agree with Sinclair's observations it probably applies 

 to some other species of millipede. 



Centipedes, or Chilopoda, are beneficial, the food being com- 

 posed of snails, slugs, and ground insects. Three of the 

 commonest genera are Litkobius, Genphilus (Fig. 3), and Scolo- 

 pendra. The eggs of LitJwbius are laid from June to August ; 

 they are about the size of a No. 5 shot, spherical in form, and 

 covered with a sticky slime. The female after laying an egg 

 rolls it about in the earth until it is all covered with soil and 

 resembles a grain of earth. A small number only are laid by 

 each female ; and the males frequently devour the eggs before 



