126 
Guide to Myriopoda. 
Table-case somite, with the exception of the first and last, is furnished 
N°. 28 . w ith a single pair of tracheal spiracles. The antennae are 
short, and consist of fourteen segments ; eyes are always absent. 
The tergal plate of the segment bearing the toxicognaths is 
always distinct, generally large, and separates the head-shield 
from the tergal plate of the first leg-bearing 
segment. 
The young when hatched have the same 
number of segments as the adult. Like all 
centipedes, the Geophilomorpha have poison- 
glands, but their jaws are too weak to pierce 
the human skin. They live a subterranean 
existence, and their food consists almost 
entirely of earthworms. Two of the British 
species ( Linotaenia maritima and Schendyla 
submarina), however, are marine in habit, 
and are found under stones between tide- 
marks. A number of Geophilids (including 
several British species, as Linotaenia cras- 
sipes, etc.) have been observed to exhibit the 
phenomenon of phosphorescence. The phos- 
phorescent fluid which they emit possesses 
irritating properties, and is used for defensive 
Geophilus longicornis P ur P oses > and als0 > is believed, as a means 
(slightly enlarged). of sexual attraction. 
Order Scolopendromorpha. 
Chilopoda, in which the body is of medium length, and bears, 
invariably, twenty-one or twenty-three pairs of legs. As a rule the 
stigmata are fewer than the legs, and are situated, roughly speak- 
ing, upon alternate segments. The antennae are longish, and 
never have fewer than seventeen, nor more than about thirty, 
segments. The tergal plate of the segment bearing the poison- 
jaws is suppressed, and the head-shield is in contact with the 
tergal plate of the first leg-bearing segment. 
The young, which are generally, perhaps always, born alive, 
have the same number of segments as the adult. 
Some of the tropical members of the Scolopendromorpha are of 
large size, and are much dreaded on account of their venomous 
bite. It is alleged, indeed, that the claws of the legs are poisonous 
to a small extent, and that when one of these animals crawls over 
the human skin, it leaves a track of inflammation behind it. Their 
Fig. 88. 
