Chap. XIII.] 
CEEMATIA. 
473 
to which it sometimes attains, renders it formidable, and, 
apart from the apprehension of unpleasant consequences 
from a wound, one shudders at the bare idea of such 
a hideous creature crawling over the skin, beneath the 
innermost folds of one's garments. 
At the head of the Myriapods, and pre-eminent from 
a superiorly-developed organisation, stands the genus 
Cermatia: singular-looking objects; mounted upon 
CERMATIA. 
slender legs, of gradually increasing length from front 
to rear, the hind ones in some species being amazingly 
prolonged, and all handsomely marked with brown annuli 
in concentric arches. These myriapods are harmless, 
excepting to woodlice, spiders, and young cockroaches, 
which form their ordinary prey. They are rarely to be 
seen ; but occasionally at daybreak, after a more than 
usually abundant repast, they may be observed motion- 
less, and resting with their regularly extended limbs 
nearly flat against the walls. On being disturbed they 
dart away with a surprising velocity, to conceal them- 
selves in chinks until the return of night. 
But the species to be really dreaded are the true 
8colopendrce, which are active and carnivorous, living 
in holes in old walls and other gloomy dens. One 
