Fig. 87.—The skein centiped,
Scutigera forceps, natural
size, common in houses
and conservatories. (From
Marlatt.)

Fig. 88.—A centiped, Scolopendra
sp. (From specimen.)

The lithobians and centipeds are flattened and have but a single pair of legs on each body-ring. They are predaceous in habit, catching and killing insects, snails, earthworms, etc. They can run rapidly, and have the first pair of legs modified into a pair of poison-claws, which are bent forward so as to lie near the mouth. The common "skein" centiped (Scutigera forceps) (fig. [87]) is yellowish and has fifteen pairs of legs, long 40-segmented antennæ, and nine large and six smaller dorsal segmental plates. The true centipeds (Scolopendra) (fig. [88]) have twenty-one to twenty-three body-rings, each with a pair of legs, and the antennæ have seventeen to twenty joints. They live in warm regions, some growing to be very large, as long as twelve inches or more. The "bite" or wound made by the poison-claws is fatal to insects and other small animals, their prey, and painful or even dangerous to man. The popular notion that a centiped "stings" with all of its feet is fallacious. It is recorded by Humboldt that centipeds are eaten by some of the South American Indians.

Class Arachnida: The Scorpions, Spiders, Mites, and Ticks.

Technical Note.—Obtain specimens of various spiders; the running or hunting spiders may be found on the ground, especially under stones and boards, the web-makers on their snares. Get also spiders' "cocoons" (egg-sacs). Examine the external structure of the spider; note the two body-regions; the number and character of legs; the absence of antennæ; the number and arrangement of the eyes (which are simple, not compound); the mouth-parts, especially the large mandibles; the spinnerets at the tip of the abdomen (examine a cut off spinneret under the microscope to see the spinning-tubes); note the breathing openings or spiracles on under side of abdomen. Obtain also a scorpion if possible, and some ticks and mites. Compare with the spiders and note that in the scorpion the body is plainly seen (especially in the abdomen) to be composed of segments. Note the extreme fusion of the segments and body-regions in the mites and ticks. The common red spider of hothouses and gardens is a mite; ticks may sometimes be found on dogs. Observe various kinds of spider-webs, and try to observe the process of web-making (this can be observed early in the morning or about dusk) by one of the orb-weaving garden-spiders. Live spiders can be kept in the schoolroom and their feeding habits and perhaps web-making habits observed.