“In the Kubbo-Kale valley,” reported British naturalist H. S. Wood in 1935, “I saw a centipede ten inches long. Its general color was electric blue with bright coral red fangs. It was the most terrible thing I have seen in my tramps through the forest.” Wood was stung by one of these Indian centipedes; he described the sensation as “exactly like that of a third degree burn.”
These animals are neither snakes, insects nor worms. They constitute an independent and intermediate order of animal life. They are considered a little nearer to the spiders than to true insects. They have retained the ways of life of the ancestral worm.
Most of the centipedes are active, ferocious, flesh-eating animals. Their poison fangs are deadly to their normal prey—earthworms and insects. Some of the larger species do not hesitate to attack lizards and small mice. A bite, however painful, probably never is fatal to a human. All are land animals which creep or crawl under logs and bark. They usually remain in seclusion during the day but come out of their retreats at night when they wander over the ground and attract attention to themselves by their phosphorescence. A few have been described as sea dwellers but these do not actually live in the water. They crawl along the shore and are submerged by each tide. Some or completely blind, others have many eyes.
The centipedes are among the most repulsive of all animals, yet there are accounts of South American Indian children who drag very large ones out of the earth and eat them. Religious fanatics among North African Arabs swallow them alive as proof of their supernatural powers.
Tropical America has many varieties with varied and curious habits, like the Nicaraguan species described by Thomas Belt:
“Among the centipedes was one which had a singular method of securing prey. It is about three inches long and sluggish in its movements but from its tubular mouth it is able to discharge a viscid fluid to a distance of about three inches, which stiffens with exposure to the air to the consistency of a spider’s web, but stronger. With this it can envelope and capture its prey, just as a fowler throws his net over a bird.
“Some of the other centipedes have phosphorescent spots in the head, which shine brightly at night, casting a greenish light for a little distance in front of them. I think these lights may serve to dazzle or allure the insects on which they prey.”
Centipedes have been observed attacking earthworms. One may grapple with its victim for several hours before killing it. Then it sucks the blood.
A fairly familiar visitor in the southern United States is a house centipede which thrives in damp basements and sometimes invades ground floors. It is a wormlike creature, about an inch long, with fifteen pairs of long legs. In the female the last pair are twice as long as the rest of the body. The animal is yellowish grey with white bands on its legs. It is poisonous, but its jaws are weak and it seldom bites human beings. Despite the evil reputation of its race, this centipede should be a welcome guest for it feeds on cockroaches, flies, spiders, moths, and other domestic pests. It is a fast runner but often stops suddenly, remains absolutely motionless for a moment, and then darts for concealment.