WAYS OF THE WILD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 84, 10 April 1937, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAYS OF THE WILD.

CENTIPEDES AND MILLEPEDES

AHD FOES nr THE G-AKDEH.

(By A. W. B. POWELL.)

My gardening friends hare frequently asked about the common centipede—is it venomous and does it do harm in the garden? Now that New Zealand's authority on centipedes, Mr. Gilbert Archey, director of the Auckland Museum, is safely on the high seas, I venture with an easier conscience to pen a few remarks on these interesting creatures. Closely allied to the centipedes are the millepedes; and some explanation of their respective identity becomes necessary. Their popular names, meaning "hundred-legged" and "thousand-legged," respectively, are not helpful, for the common centipede has a mere 21 pairs of legs and the millepede seldom more than 150 pairs.

Centipedes and millepedes differ from one another both in structure and in general habits, the former being generally useful in the garden and the latter mostly distinctly harmful. Centipedes have flat segmented bodies, with one pair of legs to each segment, and distinct poison claws, which they employ in capturing and killing their food, which consists of insects, insect larvae, snails and slugs. Millepedes, on the other hand, have hard round bodies in the form of numerous ring-like segments, each of which, with the exception of a few at the extremities, are provided with two pairs of legs. There are no poison claws, but, on the other hand, the millepedes do considerable damage to the roots of plants. Studies of wire-worms, which attack the roots of grasses and vegetables, frequently refer to a millepede of the genus Julus.

Sue of the Largest. When disturbed, centipedes invariably run with a decidedly sinuous movement, but the millepedes more often than not feign death by coiling themselves after the fashion of a spiral snail. Our largest centipede, Cormocepholus rubriceps, attains a length of from five to six inches by almost half an inch in breadth, and its bite can inflict considerable pain. They are übually located under rottea logs and in damp, decaying vegetation. It is seldom that anyone is bitten by these larg«S centipedes, and they deserve not to be destroyed, for undoubtedly they account for numbers of young snails, slugß and insects, all undesirable in the garden.

Our most beautiful centipedes, that is if one is justified in recognising beauty m any of them, are the slender-bodied 4 geophilids. These creatures may be recognised by their extreme length, narrowness and bright orange to reddish colour. They are frequently found within the leaf sheaths of the nikau palms, and when disturbed they run with great speed and will lash their bodies about in frantic efforts to escape. One species of Geophilus is common in coastal situation* associated with driftwood and decaying vegetation on sand dunes, and I have found it even in clefts of soft sedimentary rock just above high' tide mark.

A large centipede, Scolopendra subspinipes, is frequently introduced into New Zealand in fruit cases from the South Sea Islands, and occasionally Australian species come in timber. None of these seem to have established themselves, however. Although the millepedes lack the poison claws of the centipedes they have small openings in the sides of the body segments which lead to a large gland. From these pores they spray an evil-smelling fluid allied to prussic acid which is highly poisonous to small anLfaals.

Habits of the "Wire-worm." The common "wire-worm" millepede of England lays its eggs between May and July. For this purpose the female burrows into the soil and forms a nest of grains of earth, held together by a cement formed in the mouth. The interior is spherical and smooth; from 60 to 100 eggs are laid, and then the top is sealed over. In about 14 days the eggs hatch and at this stage have but three pairs of legs. Growth proceeds by adding new segments to the hinder end. Allied to the centipedes is the archaic Peripatus, a soft, velvetyblack creature superficially resembling a caterpillar. The number of legs vary with the species from 17 to 40 pairs"; they are short, soft ami cylindrical, each with a pair of tiny claws. Peripatus is of great interest to the biologist for its primitive adult structure and mode of its development throws much light upon the origin and anatomy of centipedes and insects generally. Indeed, this interesting creature also exhibits a link between the lowly worms, insects and crustaceans. . habits these animals are shv and inconspicuous, hiding under bark or stones and preferring moist surroundings. They avoid the light and move with deliberation, testing the ground as they advance, with their antennae. Locally I have found Peripatus under decaying leaves at Titirangi and at Mount Burnett, Collingwood, I saw several beneath masses of moss on boulders at 1900 to 2000 feet elevation. There are many species of Peripatus which are found in widelv separated parts of the world, affording", as is often the case with archaic animals, an excellent example of discontinuous distribution. Tbev are known in South America. the West Indies, South Africa, Australia, Xew Zealand, some of the islands of the Malay Archipelago and in Siam.

A. P. Herbert Sums Up. Once again I recall some appropriate verse by Mr. A. P. Herbert, which, in addition to it« rich humour, has a solid basis of scientific fact:— The centipede is not quite nice; He lives in idleness and »«ce; He has a hundred legit He also has a hundred wires. And each of these if she survives Has just a hundred egsrs. So that's the reason if you pick Up any boulder, stone or brick You nearly always find A swarm of centipedes concealed; Tliev scatter far across the field, But one remains*'behind, And vou may reckon then, my son. That "not alone that luckless one Lies pitiful and torn. But millions more of either sex 100 multiplied by x Will never now be bom. I dare say it will make you sick. But so does all arithmetic. The gardener says I ousht to add. The centipede is not so bad: He rather likes the brutes. The millepede is what he loathes; He uses wild, bucolic oaths, Because it eats his roots. And if you see a centipede .Approaching with a millepede Some precious root of his. On one of tlieiu you drop a stone. The other one you leave alone— How difficult life is !