CHAPTER XVI. Functions and Instincts. Myriapod Condylopes. THERE are two Classes of Condylopes, extremely dissimilar in their external form and the number of their legs, and yet in some respects related to each other, at each of which we may be said now to have arrived; both are almost exclusively terrestrial, and both remarkable for their ferocious aspect; the one the analogue of the crab, and the other apparently related to the Isopod Crustaceans, the oniscus and armadillo. It will be easily seen that I am speaking of the Arachnidans and Myriapods. Regarding, therefore, the long-tailed Decapod Crustaceans as leading, by the Order of Isopods which we last considered, towards the Myriapods, and the short-tailed ones or crabs, as tending towards the Arachnidans, I shall give a brief account of the former of these Classes in the present chapter, and I am the more induced to assign them precedency because of their evident connection with certain Annelidans, which, indeed, Aristotle, and other ancient Natural sts, thought was so close, that they considered them as belonging to the same genus;i and it is worthy of remark that, in the Class just named, the representatives, if they may be so called, of the Myriapods, are, like them, divided into two tribes, one with a cylindrical, and the other with a flat body." The Myriapods exhibit the following general characters. ANIMAL undergoing a metamorphosis, by acquiring in its progress from the egg to the adult state several additional segments and legs. Body without wings, divided into numerous pedigerous segments, with no distinction of trunk and abdo Head with a pair of antennæ; two compound eyes; a pair of mandibles; under-lip connate with the maxillæ. The class naturally divides itself into 'two Orders, distinguished both by their form and habits. l'Aristot. Hist. Animal. 1. ii. c. 14. Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. ix. c. 43. 2 See p. 187, and PLATE VIII. FIGS. 1. 4. 1. Chilognathans.1 BODY generally cylindrical; segments half membranaceous and half crustaceous, each half bearing a pair of legs; antenna seven-jointed, filiform, often a little thicker towards the end. These are called Millipedes. Julus L. 2. Chilopodans. Body depressed; segments covered by a coriaceous plate, bearing each only a single pair of legs; antennæ of fourteen or more joints, setaceous. These are called Centipedes. Scolopendra L. 1. Very little is known with respect to the habits and instincts of the animals belonging to either of these Orders, except that they frequent close and dark places, being usually found under stones, under bark, in moss, and the like. Latreille names the three families, into which he divides the first of them, Onisciform, Anguiform, and Penicillate; one3 resembles a wood-louse, like the mammalian armadillo, the trilobites, and chitons-when alarmed, rolls itself up into a spherical ball besides the ordinary dorsal and ventral segments, these have, on each side underneath, between the lateral margin and the legs, a series of rounded plates, which Latreille conjectures may be related to the organs of respiration,which seems to give them some further affinity to the Trilobites. They are found mostly under stones, and creep out before rain. Another, in its cylindrical body, gliding motion, and coiling itself up spirally, presents a striking resemblance to a snake. Some species emit, through pores, that have been mistaken for spiracles, a strong and rather unpleasant odour. The penicillate family, of which only a single species is known, is remarkable for several pencils or tufts of long and short scales, which distinguish the sides of the body. These are found principally under the bark of trees. The myriapods belonging to this order De Geer describes as very harmless animals. They appear to feed upon decaying vegetable or animal matter. The author just named thinks that the common Julus, or Gallyworm, feeds upon earth; one that he kept devoured a considerable portion of the pupe of a fly; other species are stated to eat strawberries and endive; and Frisch fed one, that he kept a long time, upon sugar. . 1 Chilognatha, so called because their lip is formed of the jaws, from Gr ̧ 2ec205, a lip, and yvabos, a jaw. 2 Chilopoda, so called because their lip is formed of the foot, from Gr. zos, a lip, and 755, a foot. 3 Glomeris. 5 J. fætidissimus. 7 J. terrestris. 4 Julus, &c. 2. The Chilopodans or Centipedes, which constitute the second order, Latreille divides into two families, which he denominates Inæquipedes and Equipedes. The Incequipedes, so called because the six last pairs of legs are suddenly longer than the rest, belong, as at present known, to a single genus,1 which being less depressed than the other Centipedes, seems to connect the two Orders. They are not found in England, but in France they are stated to frequent houses and outbuildings, where they conceal themselves during the day, between the beams and joists, and sometimes under stones; but when night comes they may be seen running upon the walls, with great velocity, coursing their prey, which consists of insects, woodlice, and other minute creatures; these they puncture with their oral fangs, and the venom they instill acts very quickly, thus enabling them easily to secure their victim. The Equipedes, so called because all their legs, except the last pair, are nearly equal in length, are subdivided into several genera, the most remarkable of which is distinguished by the ancient name of Scolopendra. Some species of this genus grow to an enormous size; a specimen of the giant centipede in the British Museum is more than a foot long. The arms of the animals of the present Order are more tremendous than those of the Millipedes, for their second pair of legs terminates in a strong claw, which is pierced at the apex for the emission of poison; in this family the first or hip-joints of these legs are united and dilated so as to form a lip. In warm climates, the centipedes are said to be very venomous. As the anguiform Chilognathans represent the living and moving serpent, so the family I am now considering, the equipede Chilopodans, may be regarded as representing the skeleton of a dead one. The head, with its poison fangs, the depressed body, formed of segments representing vertebral joints, and the legs curving inwards, and resembling ribs, all concur to excite the above idea in the mind of the beholder. Like the last family, these also frequent close places, and sometimes creep into beds; they devour insects, and similar small animals, which Latreille found the puncture of their envenomed fangs arrested, and killed instantaneously; and it is sometimes attended with serious inconveniences to man himself. One species, in some parts of the West Indies, goes by the name of the Mischievous; and the pain caused by the 1 Cermatia. Illig. Leach. Scutigera. Lam. Latr. 2 Sc. Gigas. 4 Introd, to Ent. Pl. vii. f. 11. d. b. 5 Scolopendra morsitans. 3 Introd. to Ent. t. vii. f. 13 a. 6 Malfaisante. bite of the Giant Centipede, though it is never mortal, is greater than that produced by the sting of the scorpoin. Some centipedes emit a phosphoric light: of this description is one distinguished by the name of the phosphoric, which is stated by Linné to have fallen from the air upon Captain Ekeberg's vessel in the indian Ocean, a hundred miles from land. But the light giving centipede best known is the elec tric, which is remarkable for emitting a vivid phosphoric light in the dark; this is produced by a viscid secretion, which, as I have observed, when adhering to the fingers, gives light independent of the animal. This species also frequents beds. Its object in this may, perhaps, be to search for bugs and other insects that annoy our species during repose. The function which the Creator has devolved upon the Myriapods of the first Order, seems to be that of removing putrescent vegetable and animal matter from the spots that they. frequent; and that of the second to keep within due limits the minor inhabitants, especially the insect, of the dark places of the earth. Viewed Viewed in this light, however disgusting they may seem to us in their general aspect, we may regard them as beneficial, and as contributing their efforts to maintain in order and beauty the globe we inhabit. It is worthy of remark that the great Hebrew Legislator, amongst the unclean animals which it was unlawful for the Israelites to eat or to touch, enumerates those which multiply feet. In the common version it is translated, Hath more feet; but the marginal reading is nearest to the Hebrew, and seems to allude to a circumstance upon which I shall hereafter enlarge, namely, that these animals increase the number of their legs with their growth. As a subject intimately connected with Zoology in general, and leading to a very profitable study of the animal kingdom in a moral point of view, it will not be foreign to the object of the present treatise if I add here a few remarks upon the distinction of animals into clean and unclean. observable in many parts of Holy Writ. This distinction was originally to indicate those which might or might not be offered up in sacrifice, and, afterwards, when animal food was permitted, to signify to the Jews those that might and those that might not be eaten. When Noah was commanded, Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female; and of beasts that are not clean, by two, the male and his 1 S. phosphorea. 2 Geophilus electricus. 3 Levit. xi. 42. i female-it is evident that the distinction was familiar to the Patriarch. The unclean animals, with respect to their habits and food, belonged to two great classes, namely Zoophagous animals, or those which attack and devour living animals; and Necrophagous animals, or those which devour dead ones, or any other putrescent substances. Of the first description, are the canine and felines tribes amongst quadrupeds; the eagles and hawks amongst birds; the crocodiles and serpents amongst reptiles; the sharks and pikes amongst fishes; the tiger-beetles 10 and ground-beetles11 amongst insects; and to name no more, the centipedes in the class we are treating of. With regard to the necrophagous tribe, I do not recollect any mammalians that are exclusively of that description, for the hyena1 and glutton13 are ferocious, and eagerly pursue their prey-they will, however, devour any carcasses they meet with, and even disinter them when buried; but the vulture amongst the birds will not attack the living when he can gorge himself with the dead; the carrion crow belongs also to this tribe; amongst insects, the burying," carrion,15 and dissecting beetles,16 the flesh-fly, and many other two-winged flies, feed upon putrescent flesh; and numberless others satiate themselves with all unclean and putrid substances, whether animal or vegetable. In the present class, the millipedes belong to the necrophagous tribe. A third description of animals, appearing to be intermediate between the clean and unclean, and partaking of the characters of both, was added to the list-for instance, those that are ruminant and do not divide the hoof, as the camel, which, though it has separate toes, they are included in an undivided skin; and those that divide the hoof, but are not ruminant, as the swine. It appears clear from St. Peter's vision, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles," that these unclean animals were symbolical, and in that particular case represented the Gentile world with whom it was not lawful for the Jews to eat or associate, 18 doubtless, lest they should be corrupted in their morals or faith, and seduced into Idolatry, and its natural consequences, with regard to morality, by them. In other passages of Scripture, |