NATURE NOTES

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21908, 8 October 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES

(By L. W. McCaskill)

Christina Kirkman when digging In her garden at Riverside, Ashburton. found what she calls a “beastie” which she correctly identified as a millipede. Whereas mil* lipedes aye quite common in gardens and rubbish heaps in Canterbury, they are nearly always the round-bodied type. The specimen sent from Riverside belongs to a rather uncommon group known as the flattened millipedes.

Very few people like millipedes, probably because they think they are centipedes, and centipedes are well -known to be poisonous. Actually millipedes are quite harmless to us; the only damage they do is to plants. They can easily be recognised by the fact that they have two pairs of legs on every ring after the first three; centipedes have only one pair of legs on each ring. In ad-

dition, millipedes have only seven joints in fee feelers and have no Eoiaon claws, whereas centipedes ave at least 14 joints in the feelers, and have fee first pair of legs transformed into poison claws. Catch a millipede and place it on a piece of white paper. Even if you do not like fee little “beastie." you must admit that his movements are beautiful. Pressing fee clawed tips of its legs against fee paper. it levers Itwdf along lightly yet swiftly as if it were rowing with a hundred pairs of oars. While some legs are being drawn backwards, thus pressing against fee paper and pushing the annual forwards, another set are being drawn forwards to grip fee paper in their turn. The result is feat we see wave after wave pass* ing along fee legs, a very fascinating thing to watch even though, we do not understand it All the time the feelers are ever on fee move, touching and testing in advance. If we had as many legs as a millipede we would probably have great difficulty in deciding which leg to use first. We would then be sympathetic with that famous millipede which was happy—- " Until a toad in fun Said. ‘Pray, which leg moves after which?’ This raised her doubts to such I pitch. She felt exhausted in fee ditch. Not knowing how to run,”

Since they have no poisonamgs millipedes cannot pery well fight their enemies- wwww. Waturc has made up for this Jack by supplying them with numerous stink-glands. These .open on nearly every rin*. and give out an evil smelling, burntag fluid, which warn* off any marandur*

uv»nth*r animal* which have a hard slitoefnon-lMng material millipede* have to moult periodically in order to.arow. Whet a tab It must pc to wdT all those muscles cut of their nerd protective covering! The animal eemcs out quite soft, and grows rapidly while It bats duuMSfi. thst I !jbi- tbs j ixsw skin harden*. The old ittil lias be-

MILLIPEDES

side it for a while and then disappears—the millipede has eaten it. Among the various kinds of millipedes, there is much variety of parental care. One type moistens particles of earth with the juice mom her mouth and makes a round nest about the size of a small marble. It is rough outside, but smooth and polished inside. Only a small hole is left through which the mother passes from 60 to 100 eggs, with some glue to stick them together. Then she closes the hole with some humus mixed with juice from her mouth and moves on. In about 12 days the young will hatch. They have only a few rings at first, and only three pairs of legs, which appear on the second, third, and fifth rings- They grow by the addition of new rings at the tail end every time they moult.

In Europe there is a variety of millipede which does not get much of a chance to increase in numbers. Just behind the head of many of this type is often found a clear little globule, the egg laid there by a small fly. When the maggot hatches from the egg it secretes an acid with which it dissolves fee hard skin of the millipede. It then gets inside and feeds on the internal organs. The dead millipede finally falls to pieces just about the time the maggot has gone through the various stages in its life history, and is ready to emerge aa the adult fiy.