The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1890-03-05

The largest centipede ! saw in Afkan-
sas was little more than eight inches
long. There has been some discussion
among natnralisis as 70 the manner IN
which the centipede infiicts wound
Rucsland SAYS that il is with the first
oair Of legs. which are more highly devel-
oped and contain more venom. auckland
doubtless refers to its pincers, for ITS hrst
pair Of legs are the smallest. In my e1-
uerience with these have noticed that
in attack they use the short, strong pm
cers in the front part Of their head. In
captnring large centipede, however,
noticed that, in lifting il up withA couple
of sticks sfter It became wounded II con-
tinuallv made efforts 10 wrap its legs
about the sticks as though making an
effort TO inflict wounds, but when placed
in glass jar with lizard already IN
alcohol. il seized the reptile by the head
with its pincers, burying them complete
ly. and died in that position.
Yet found that the belief was quite
general among the people that If a cent?
pede crawled over ones bare skin, that 1t
iefl poisoned trail from its feet.
Numerous seemingly well authenticat-
ed stories were told to prove this An Old
farmer very feelingly narrated how his
own daughter, - or l6 years old, lay
sleeping in his cabin one warm summer
night when a ceptipede fell from the
roof on her bare bosom. The marks left
by the horrid creature made an ugly sore
and nearly ruined the beauty OF the girls
/ form.
another curdling story was told oi a
soldier during the war. Having wet bis
clothes in crossing a swollen stream, he
built fire, before which he hung his
raiment 10 dry. While waiting, sitting
/ on a rock with his back to a tree before
the fire, he fell asleep, but was awakened
by a strange sensation and was horrlied
/ 10 end a great centipede stretched out on
his bare leg with its head a little elevated
lust over his knee. Having his revolver
handy, be very quietly drew it up and
shot the creatures head away. Bat the
centipede, quiyering in its death agony
Immediately sank every one Of It's feet
into the flesh of his leg The soldier, so
the story ended, died in great agony some
days after from the effect ofthese wounds.
noticed one day a red mark across
lads arm, and asked him what caused H.
where a centipede crawled over me,
was the answer. A similar faint, reddish
scar on the calf of boys leg was ascrib-
ed to the same origin.
Each one Of the centipedes' forty legs
is covered with hard, smooth armor OF
light-colored shell, most admirably join
ed to permit iiexibiliiy the last section
or foot terminates in slightly curved
single joint, exceedingly sharp. The fang
ike single Toe is black and not very un-
like the scorpions sting. On the inside
of the second section above the large
toe-fang is similar but much smaller
one. One can easily conceive that a
strong, muscular creature like cent?
pede, in crawling over the tender, sensa-
tive skin Of the human body might
scratch or puncture it with these sharp
hard fang-like points, causing irritation.
have not been able to find any poison
glands connected with these foot fangs
vet still the animal may have some way
of placing venom on them from the head
tried some experimental by placing
scorpions and centipedes in box and
irritating them. The scorpion always
suffered, his greater relative something
to be too well armored for his sting to
penetrate.
A tarantula, too, killed three scorpions
before he himself succumbed to the sting
Having seen a number of bats in a
cavern | obtained several of these insec'
tiverous animals and placed them in a
box with lively pair ofscorpions Nex'
morning the bats were all dead and the
scorpions as h-ely as ever.-N. J. Sun.