








APTER A, 
Many authors have defcribed this creature. In the voluminous works of Seba we find feyeral {peci- 
mens of it from different countries, differing materially in fize, and fome trifling particulars, but all pof- 
fefling the diftinguifhing charaéters of Scolopendra Morfitans. The largeft of thefe exceed our figure in 
magnitude, being near fourteen inches in length: this he calls Miepeda major ex nova Hifpania. His 
figure of Millepeda Africane is about the fize of our Chinefe fpecimen. He has alfo a third and fourth 
figure, Millepeda Orientalis and Millepeda Celonica, mas: the latter is the fame length as our figure, but 
the body is very uarrow. Millepeda Orientalis is alfo the fame length, but the body is very broad. Some 
of thefe infects are not four inches in length. 
Authors agree that they vary exceedingly in fizeS’ and colour. De Geer defcribes them to be fome- 
times deep reddith brown ; at others the colour of yellow ochre. The figure in Catefby’s Natural Hiftory 
of Carolina is light brown; we have fpecimens of a livid yellow, and have feen others ftrongly tinged 
with red. 
The laft pair of legs are confiderably larger than the others, and are armed with fmall black fpines. 
The legs terminate in very tharp hooks or nails of a fhining black colour. All the other legs are alfo fur- 
nifhed with a fmaller nail of the fame fhape and colour. 
M. Gronovius fays that all its feet are very venemous; but the moft formidable of its weapons are the 
two fharp, hooked inftruments that are placed under the mouth, and with which it deftroys its prey. 
Lewenhoeck having examined thefe inftruments with a microfcope, he found a {mall opening at the 
extremity of each, and a channel from them into the body of the creature. Through this channel he fup- 
pofes the Scolopendra emits the poifonous fluid into the wound it makes with the hooked inftrument. That 
author further remarks, that he has feen a liquor on that part of living fcolopendras. A figure of thefe 
infiraments on the under fide of the head, is reprefented in one of the diffections in our plate. 
The fame author, wifhing to afcertain the influence of the poifon of Scolopendra morfitans, placed 
a large fly within its reach. The Scolopendra at firft took it between a pair of its middle feet, then 
patied it from one pair of feet to the next, till the fly was brought under the fharp pointed inftrument or 
crotchets at the.head, which it plunged into the fly, and it died inftantly. Notwithftanding this experi- 
ment, De Geer, Catefby, and other authors, affert, that its bite feldom proves fatal to larger animals; but 
all agree that its poifon is as dangerous as that of the {corpion. 
This Scolopendra has eight eyes: they are very fmall; four are placed on each fide of the head near 
the antenne. In the diffections a figure is given to exhibit the manner in which the four eyes are placed 
on one fide. 
$ Thefe creatures differ from moft infeéts in their manner of growth, infomuch that it it impoffible to afcertain when they are of their 
full ize. The fegments of the body increafe as they advance in age, which circumftance renders it difficult oftentimes to determine the fpe- 
eiesy without a minute examination of its other chara¢ters. 
