group, the body consisting of about sixteen flattened segments, or
rings, each bearing a single pair of legs. When disturbed, the
"thousand-legs" generally coils up and remains motionless, shamming
death, or "playing possum," as it is popularly put, as a means of
defence; while the centipede scampers hurriedly away and endeavors to
hide beneath leaf, chip, or other object.

[Illustration: CENTIPEDE.]

All those found in the Northern States are perfectly harmless, the
true centipede, whose bite is reputed much more venomous than it
really is, being found only in the South. True, some of the centipede
group can pinch rather sharply with their beetle-like jaws; and one,
our largest and most common species, a brownish red fellow about three
inches long and without eyes, can even draw blood if its jaws happen
to strike a tender place. When handled it always tries to bite,
perhaps out of revenge for the abominably long Latin name given it by
its describer. In fact the name is longer than the animal
itself--_Sco-lo-po-cryp-tops sex-spi-no-sus_ (Say)--being its cognomen
in full. With such a handle attached to it, who can blame it for
attempting to bite? Yet, to the scientist up on his Latin, each part
of the above name bears a definite and tangible meaning. All the
myriapods found in the woods and fields feed upon decaying vegetation,
such as leaves, stems of weeds, and rotten wood, and in winter three
or four species can usually be found within or beneath every decaying
log or stump. One species with very long legs, _Scutigera forceps_
(Raf.), is often found in damp houses or in cellars. It is sometimes
called the "wall-sweeper," on account of its rapid ungainly gait, and
is even reputed to prey upon cockroaches and other household pests.