CENTIPEDES AND MILLIPEDES 
83 
of the present. It is not for him to foretell, but to announce the 
arrival of the long looked-for season of life and growth. When 
buds are unfolding and expanding into leaves, when the country 
is full of sweet sights and sounds, when our spirits are uplifted 
and entranced by the sweet influences of the season, then the 
ousel cock can no longer keep silence, and breaks into song. 
The glorious flowing melody which pours from his throat is 
but a vocal expression of the very essence or spirit of the sweet 
springtide. Hidden from sight in some leafy copse he trolls out 
his rich, mellow, impassioned notes — so strangely human in 
their intonation, proclaiming the universal rejuvenescence, and 
telling of the scents of the spring flowers, of meadows aglow 
with buttercups, and hedges clad in tenderest green. And from 
the upper boughs of some spreading oak there comes at intervals 
that soft, tremulous and soothing voice by which we know “ the 
winter is ” indeed “ past .... the flowers appear on the 
earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice 
of the turtle is heard in our land.” 
G. T. Rope. 
CENTIPEDES AND MILLIPEDES. 
R. Wilfred Mark Webb, our Honorary Secretary, is 
preparing a monograph on the British Centipedes and 
Millipedes for the Ray Society, and will be glad of 
the assistance of those who may be willing to collect 
specimens for him. For the guidance of such collectors, he has 
privately printed some “ Hints,” with a systematic enumeration 
of species and figures of eight generic types, from which, with 
his permission, we extract the following remarks as to the 
habitats of these animals and the method of collecting. 
“ Both Centipedes and Millipedes may generally be looked 
for in places similar to those in which land-shells, beetles, and 
woodlice are found, namely, under stones and logs, beneath the 
bark of dead trees, and at the roots of grass and herbage, as 
well as among vegetable refuse. Entomologists find that some 
species come to the sugar intended for moths.” 
“ The animals should be collected straightway into tubes of 
weak spirit (30 per cent.). They then become gradually narco- 
tised, and die in a limp condition, in which they can safely be 
left for some weeks. They must, however, be preserved per- 
manently in 70 per cent, spirit. Formalin should not be used, 
as it appears to discolour and spoil the Millipedes. In actual 
collecting it is useful to have a small dry tube, which can be 
held in front of quick-running Centipedes, so that they may 
enter it and be captured without injury. It is then an easy 
matter to transfer them to the tube of spirit.” 
Mr. Webb will supply collectors with tubes ; but in other 
