PORCELLIO. 
235 
Tail abruptly narrower than the body ; its appendages are 
four, the side ones being two-jointed. 
Philoscia Muscorum, Scop. — Body above ash-brown or 
reddish, sprinkled with little dots and marks of grey or 
yellow, under side whitish. 
In damp places, as among the moss at the roots of trees. 
Gen. 120. PORCELLIO, Latr. 
Outer antennae with seven joints, by which character it is 
chiefly distinguished from Oniscus . In Scotland these crea- 
tures are commonly called “Sclaters.” Dr. Asa Fitch ^ has 
well described the use of these common little Crustaceans. 
He says that they are “ everywhere common about the 
roots of trees, under logs and stones, in the crevices of the 
foundation walls of our buildings, and in our cellars ; and 
they are particularly numerous under any logs or billets of 
wood. They occur, in short, in all situations that are damp, 
cool, and dark. Frequently by night, in wet weather, they 
crawl about the rooms in our dwellings. They are perfectly 
* First Report on the Noxious, Beneficial, and other Insects of the State 
of New York, p. 118. Albany, 1855. 
