Many authors have defcribed this crealurc. In the volainlnous works o f Seba we find feveral fpecimens
o f it from diffirrent countries, differing materially in fize, and fome trifling particulars, but all pof-
fdiing the diftingnifiiing charaSers o f Seolopendra Morfitans. The largeft o f thefe exceed our figure in
magnitude, being near fourteen inches in length; this he calls iE lk fe d a major ex nova Hifpania. His
figure o f Md k frd a A fr icm a is about the fize o f our Chinefe fpecimen. He has alfo a third and fourth
figure, M dk feda Orkrualis and Mdlcfeda Cdotiea, mas; the latter is the fame length as our figure, but
the body is very narrow. Millcpeda Orientali, is alfo the fame length, but the body is very broad. Some
of thefe infeds .ire not four inches in length.
Aulhors agree that they vary exceedingly in fize' and colour. De Geer deferibes them to be fome-
times deep reddilh brown ; a t others the colour o f yellow ochre. The figure in Catefby's Natural Hiftory
o f Carolina is light brown; wc have fpecimens of a livid yellow, and have feen others ftrongly tinged
T h e laft pair of legs are confiderably larger than the others, and are armed with fmall black fpines.
The legs terminate in very fliarp hooks or nails of a fliining black colour. All the other legs are alfo fur-
nilhed with a fmaller nail o f the fame fliape and colour.
M. Gronovius fays that all its feet are very venemous j but the moft formidable of its weapons are the
two lharp, hooked inftruments that are placed under the mouth, and with which it deflroys its prey.
Lewenhoeck having examined thefe inftruraents with a microfcope, he found a fmall opening at thc
extremity of each, and a channel from them into the body o f the creature. Through this channel he fup-
pofes the Seolopendra emits the poifonous fluid into the wound it makes w ith the hooked inftrument. That
author further remarks, that he has feen a liquor on that part of living fcolopendras. A figure of thefe
inftruraents on the under fide o f the head, is reprefented in one o f the difleaions in our plate.
T h e fame author, williing to afcertain the influence o f the poifon o f Seolopendra morfitans, placed
a large fly within its reach. The Seolopendra at firft took it between a pair o f its middle feet, then
paflcd it from one pair of feet to the next, till the fly was brought under the fliarp pointed inftrument or
crotchets a t the head, which it plunged into the fly, and it died inflantly, Notwithftanding this experiment,
De Geer, Catefby, and other authors, alfert, that its bite feldom proves fatal to larger animals} but
all agree that its poifon is as dangerous as that of the fcorpion.
This Seolopendra has eight eyes: they are very fmall; four are placed on each fide o f the head near
the antennte. In the difleaions a figure is given to exhibit the manner in which the four eyes are placed
> Thcfc creatures differ from moft infcfts In their manner of growth, infomuch that it it impoflible to afcertain when they are of their
full fize. Thc fcgments of the body increafe as they advance in age, wliich circumftance renders it difficult oftentimes to determine the fpc-
eies, without a minute examination of its other charafters.
I N D E X
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