60 
PLANTS AND INSECTS 
they never have an even number of pairs of legs, but always an odd 
number. 
Centipedes are active and ferocious. During the day they usually 
keep themselves hidden in dark damp places—under stones and bark, 
in decaying wood and leaves, or in loose soil. When night comes on, 
they go forth in search of food. They are flesh-eaters, feeding on 
worms, mollusks, and insects. As destroyers of insects they are of 
practical importance to agriculture. 
The smaller forms seldom, if ever, bite man, but the large tropi¬ 
cal species do and the bite is serious. The venom is injected into the 
flesh through a pair of modified legs situated close to the head and 
used to seize prey. The wound becomes red and swollen and exceed¬ 
ingly painful. The suffering has been described by those who have 
experienced it “as similar to what might be produced by contact with 
red-hot iron.” The swelling and pain, however, yield readily to an 
application of ammonia. 
As a, result of my study, I found that many centipedes are not 
only harmless, but really beneficial to man, and that I need not tremble 
at the name or be ready to end the life of every one I chance to see. 
HOW MISTLETOE AFFECTS ITS HOST 
HE time-honored mistletoe is not so innocent, or free from harmful 
A habit, as the whiteness of its berries might suggest. This plant, 
which for many centuries has been a. very popular plant for decorations 
in winter-time, has fallen low under the denunciation of those who have 
investigated the conditions of the forests of Washington, Oregon, and 
Idaho. 
There are very many varieties of mistletoe, and it seems that, to 
some extent at least, each species has its preferred host and does not 
grow so readily upon other trees. For illustration: On a certain river 
in Idaho the lodgepole and yellow pines are heavily infected, and the 
larch is practically free from its attack. In another river valley not far 
away another species of mistletoe is found, and it works considerable 
injury to larches, while the| yellow pine of this valley is not seriously 
attacked. 
For some time the general and gradual decline of the western larch 
has been reported as occurring throughout the entire Blue Mountain 
