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Greymouth Evening Star, 14 March 1930, Page 9

When a Christchurch fruiterer was opening a case of Samoan bananas which had recently arrived he yas startled to see a large centipede wriggle out. Before it could escape it was trapped between some boards, and eventually persuaded to enter a bottle. The creature is about six inches long, amber coloured, and with black rings round the trunk a little less than a quartei' of an inch apart. It has 22 pairs of legs, which join the body at the rings. It belongs to the genus scolopendridae, of which about ten species are known. They are especially at home in warm countries, w’here they often attain a large size, one variety being sometimes a foot long. The poisonous bite of some of the larger forms, inflicted with a pair of sharp claws close to the head, is really dangerous to man, although not always fatal.