164 
SABITO. 
LUCIFUGOUS INSECTS. 
April — Under a stone by the roadside at 
Sabito Bottom, I found a Centipede performing the 
duties of a mother. It was a blue species, about 
three inches in length ; it was lying in the form of 
a bow, the head and the tail curved forwards toward 
each other, almost on its back, the curved body em- 
bracing some ten or fifteen eggs, which slightly 
cohered. The eggs are oval, about as large as hemp- 
seed; pale-yellowish, pellucid, and under a lens per- 
fectly glossy, with a membranous integument. The 
parent on being disturbed, darted away among the 
stones, leaving the eggs, so that I did not capture 
her. I brought home the eggs, and having taken 
out a few for preservation, placed the rest carefully 
on moist earth in a phial, hoping to rear them. 
They soon, however, became covered with mould, 
and decomposition destroyed them. The mother’s 
care is perhaps indispensable, as in the case of ants, 
regulating the admission of heat and moisture to 
them, according to circumstances. 
Scolopendridce of this size and under, are common 
enough beneath stones; but the larger species are very 
rarely met with. Scorpions also, of two species, one 
with slender claws (perhaps Tityus griseus of Koch), 
the other with these organs much thickened (probably 
an Atreus), are also common under stones ; they are 
inert when uncovered, and almost helpless ; and are 
not at all dreaded. * In the same situations is found 
Respecting a curious organ peculiar to these animals, of which 
