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No. 145 | 
in* vegetable and animal substances. They afford a dainty bit 
to domestic fowls, which devour them, with avidity, and are always 
scratching our yards in search of these more than any other arti¬ 
cle of diet. This is their chief importance in an economical aspect, 
and being so abundant they form an item of no small value to the 
poultry breeder, though one of which but little notice is taken. 
In former times the species of this family were highly reputed for 
their supposed medicinal virtues, and old books upon the materia 
medica inform us that when dried and pulverized “ they have a 
faint disagreeable smell, and a somewhat pungent sweetish nause¬ 
ous taste, and are highly celebrated in suppressions, in all kinds 
of obstructions of the bowels, in the jaundice, ague, weakness of 
sight, and a variety of other disorders.” And the wine of Milli¬ 
pedes, prepared by crushing these animals, when fresh, and in¬ 
fusing them in “Rhenish wine,” is spoken of as “an admirable 
cleanser of all the viscera, yielding to nothing in the jaundice 
and obstructions of the kidneys.” In the light of modern science 
we can iunute the cures attributed to these creatures only to the 
effect produced upon the imagination of the patient, and the 
curative powers of nature, for beyond some slight demulcent qua¬ 
lities, they must be wholly inert, and are now wisely discarded 
from the pharmacopeias. 
Six American species, pertaining to the genus Porcellio are 
known to me, as follows: 
The Smooth Porcellio (P. glaber) has the surface of the body smooth and 
slightly shining, of a brownish black color, each segment presenting, except along 
the middle of the back, numerous short whitish lines or oblong dots arranged longi¬ 
tudinally and near the outer margin a whitish spot; under side and legs white or 
cream yellow; antennae and projecting apical filaments unicolor with the body. 
Length half an inch. This sometimes when captured doubles itself into a ball, simi¬ 
lar to the Armadillos, but is incapable of assuming a form so compact and perfectly 
spherical as the crustaceans of that genus. It is less common than our other species. 
Toung individuals are slightly paler, and a variety which I name conjluentus, and 
which is quite rare, has the oblong dots more or less confluent, forming irregular 
white spots. This is at once distinguished from all our other species by having the 
surface perfectly smooth and even, without either elevated points or granules. I had 
long regarded this as identical with the P. lavis of Europe, but specimens of that 
species, taken in the forest of St. Germain, France, and kindly sent me, with other 
species of these crustaceans pertaining to western Europe, by my esteemed friend 
and correspondent, Andrew Murray, W. S , Edinburgh, show it to be d fTerent. That 
