IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22098, 31 October 1933, Page 2

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

THE CENTIPEDES. HISTORY LOST IN AGES, By J. Dudmmond, F.L.S., F.Z.S. Air D. Adamson, of Sander street, Thames, wag mistaken when he sent a small centipede for identification and referred to it as an insect; but he erred in select company. No less a personage than venerated Carl Linnaeus placed centipedes amongst insects. There is evidence of the perplexity they caused early systematists in the fact that many followed the example of Linnaeus, and others, until the beginning of the nineteenth century, classed centipedes not only with insects, but also with spiders, scorpions, or serpents. The importance of their position in the animal kingdom having been established by more discerning students, they were given a class of their own, together with their allies, the millipedes. The title chosen for the class, Myriapoda, means 10,000-footed. Centipede means 100 feet, millipede 1000 feet. These exaggerated terms are intended to convey no definite meaning except that both sections of the Myriapoda have many feet. Centipedes and millipedes resemble each other superficially, but they are not closely related. There is a fairly wide gulf between them in structure, habits, and disposition. They are not far removed from the w'orms. They have affinities with the insects and to a lesser degree with the crustaceans. There is no difficulty in distinguishing a centipede from a millipede. A centipede is flattened; a millipede is usually cylindrical. A centipede has one pair of feet on each section of its body; a millipede has two pairs on each section. A •centipede has poison claws, and can give a painful bite; a millipede depends for defence on an evil-smelling liimid ejected | from special glands. A centipede is car- j nivorous, active, fierce and sudden; a millipede is a vegetarian, and is slow. ! In the tropics there are big centipedes ! whose bite, it is reported, has been fatal i to people. A millipede, taken in the ( hand, simply coils itself up and lies low. j It makes its presence felt by damaging i crops. “It moved very quickly along the ground,” Mr Adamson reports. This is ; characteristic of a centipede. It works ! its legs so quickly that even Sir Ray I Lankester found difficulty in tracing its I method of locomotion. I

People who charge earthworms with stealing their onion plants and have them set may be pleased to learn that centipedes are earthworms’ worst enemies. In his graphic style Sir J. Arthur Thomson has described the remote ancestors of earthworms discovering that there was an underground world. They explored it and entered upon a life of peace and plenty. This golden age was too good to last. Centipedes, predatory, bloodthirsty, and pertinacious, were amongst the first to follow the earthworms underground. Banditry began. It has been continued down the ages, and may be watched on the way--side to-day.

Clinching its poison claws, which are on its first pair of legs behind its mouth parts, a centipede penetrates an earth-worm’s-soft body. Sometimes the earthworm lies quiet, as if paralysed. In other cases the earthworm wriggles convulsively. It may even throw off the centipede and hurl it several inches away. Returning to the attack, the centipede now bites with its jaws, instead of using its poison claws. The jaws are keen blades. The centipede nresses its month parts close to the earthworm and chews through the body wall. Part of the earthworm’s body is cut off. The centipede chews this at leisure. The rest of the earthworm crawls disconsolately away. Some of the deadliest combats are in the darkness of earthworms’ holes, into which centipedes enter eagerly.

After studying the gradual development of a centipede from the egg to the adult, Professor F. G. Sinclair, Cambridge University, wag surprised at the beautiful processes by which the organs rise and develop. The heart is a pulsating vessel along the back, extending through _ the centipede’s whole length. It is divided into chambers and is equipped with muscles that control the pulsations. Blood enters the chambers by slits and circulates through the organs. Breathing is through minute tubes, which ramify the organs and the body, and open on to the surface of the body, admitting external air.

Few living creatures have more ancient lineage than the centipedes. Their ancestors were amongst the first explorers that left the sea to dwell on the land. Their fossill remains are found in vastly ancient _ rocks. They are well represented in the Old Red Sandstone, now called the Devonian. Those early centipedes sheltered under the lowly plants of that period. They fed on worms and on other creatures that had abandoned the sea for the land. Centipedes of the Old Red Sandstone were different from centipedes of these days. Fossils in recent strata are more like present centipedes. Individuals preserved in amber for perhaps 1,000,000 years can hardly be distinguished from their living representatives.

“ This country ig an ideal place for a lover of Nature,’ Mr C. peumelburg writes from Tiromoana, 30 miles south of Westport. “My base camp \is on the side of the Fox River. On my trips up the riyer into the Paparoa Ranges, I saw many native birds, rare in other places. Blue mountain duckg are fairly plentiful, also kakas and kiwis. We caught a kiwi and kept it as a pet for a time, but as continually collecting earthworms for it became troublesome, we liberated it. Tomtits, with black plumage and a yellow breast amuse me. They follow us through the forest for miles, flying alongside of us. If we stop for a short rest, they stop and hop about on twigs near us. As soon as we start again they start.”

Observations made a few years ago by Mr J. C. M'Lean on the Maunga-Huamia Range, 3979 feet high, 40 or 50 miles north-west of Poverty Bay, are valuable additions to knowledge of native birds. In daily walks through heavy virgin forest, while superintending the felling of part of a block of 3000 acres, he took full advantage of the golden opportunity that came His way. On wet and fog<ry mornings, he heard the shrill notes of the spirited little falcon called bush-hawk. In fine weather, it usually went out on the warpath early in the morning, often at daybreak, or towards evening. As soon as the sun was up it retired to the shade of the forest and sat quietly on a branch under dense foliage. When it suddenly darted out, tuis whined and bell bird's stirred uneasily. Bellbirds were greatly concerned. He caught glimpses of them as they dashed around corners into low thickets, silently but in haste and confusion.

Tin's were intercepted as they flew over a valley, the bush-hawk cutting out from its outlook and preventing them from descending to cover in the forest. The chase continued for several minutes. Each tui, becoming exhausted, was struck down. One evening Mr M'Lean saw a tui killed high above the trees. He heard the smashing blow clearly. The tui collapsed immediately and fell screaming to the ground, while the bush-hawk wheeled down to it. Mr M'Lean walked to the scene. He saw the bush-hawk busy tearing the tui’s body, which it picked up and flow off with.

In that valley two bush-hawks lorded it over all other birds. Many wood-pigeons fell to them. A harrier-hawk one day cruised about the valley. In wide circles

it drew nearer to the bush-hawks’ ido-

main. These two combined, gave chase, and knocked the harrier about. The bushhawks swung backwards and forwards over the harrier, mounting high with rapidlybeating wings, and then swooping down swiftly on the harrier, which turned on its side and tried to avoid every blow. This continued for about five minutes, the harrier making no fight of it, and getting away without serious injury. The following day it was in trouble with the same pair of bush-hawks. They gave it a warmer reception than previously and hunted it much further down the valley, i Later on, Mr M'Lean passed it there, sit- i ting on a stump dejectedly. The second prize in a travel essay competition in “ Discovery,” London, has been awarded to Mr H. Z. Collier, London road, Marks Tey, Essex, who entered an interesting article entitled “ Christmas iu

the New Zealand Alps,” describing a holiday in the mountains amongst the mountain lilies and the mountain daisies. The first prize was won by Dr P. L. Giuseppi, of Felixstowe. He gives an account of Ins search in the montains of Persia for a race of beautiful plants, the Dionysias, found in Persia only. Both essays are published in the September issue of Discovery.” With ihem are eight articles on science, discoveries or archaiology, notes of the month, and excellent book reviews. The latest developments at the city of ancient Gaza, dealt with by Sir Flinders Petrie, throw new light on the history of ancient Palestine. The flight of the Italian Air Armada, a remarkable achievement in aviation, and the possibility of a regular transatlantic air route, are discussed by Mr J. L. Nnyler, secretary of the Aeronautical Research Committee.