CENTIPEDES. 
207 
centipedes may be said to have a pair of feelers at each end of the body. The 
Cryptopidai resemble the preceding in being blind, but have only twenty-one pairs 
of legs. They are all of small size, rarely exceeding an inch in length, and are 
spread all over the world, extending farther to the north than any other forms. 
One, namely, Cryptops hortensis, is by no means uncommon in England. The most 
important forms belong, however, to the Scolopendridee, which in number of 
genera and species is far superior to the others. Like the Cryptopidai they have 
twenty-one pairs of legs, but the 
tarsi of these appendages are 
bisegmented, and there are four 
eyes on each side of the head. 
From the shores of the Mediter¬ 
ranean in the west, and from 
China and Japan in the east, 
this family spreads southwards 
over the entire Eastern Hemi¬ 
sphere, while in America it 
ranges from the Southern 
United States to Chili and 
Argentina. The larger members 
of the group are a foot in length, and very venomous, although their bite is seldom 
fatal to man. The Scolop endr idee live under stones and logs, and in the tropics 
frequently take refuge in bedding, boots, or clothes. Their food consists principally 
of cockroaches, beetles, worms, etc.; but they do not seem to be particular as to 
diet, since some have been found devouring lizards of 
larger size than themselves, and one kept for more than 
a year in the London Zoological Gardens was fed upon 
mice. The female lays her eggs in clusters like berries 
on the ground in some damp obscure place, and coiling 
herself round them remains immovable until the young 
are hatched and have gained strength enough to scatter 
in search of prey. When kept without food in captivity 
the mother will feed upon her young. The growth of 
these centipedes, and probably of all members of the 
group, is accompanied by casting of the entire integu¬ 
ment. The membrane at the back and sides of the head 
splits, the head-plate turns forwards, and through the 
aperture thus made the new centipede gradually 
struggles, leaving behind the old skin with its posterior 
segments retracted within those that lie in front like 
the pieces of a telescope. The genera of Scolop endridea 
Geophilus tenuitarsus (much present a strong family likeness to each other; one ot 
enlarged). the most remarkable being the African Ahpes, which 
has the last three segments of the last pair of legs 
flattened and leaf-like. The reason of this modification is unknown, but the 
creature is said to make a noise by knocking and rubbing its legs together. 
centipede (Scolopendra morsitans ) devouring a beetle larva 
(reduced). 
