A HISTORY OF SURREY MYRIAPODA The sixteen species of myriapods here recorded from Surrey were for the most part captured in three localities, namely at Kew Gardens by Mr. Nicholson, at Weybridge by Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, and at Kingston-on-Thames by Mr. Lucas. They may be taken as representa- tive of the commonest forms of the county, and with one exception are widely distributed throughout England. That the list might be doubled with a little diligent search scarcely admits of a doubt. In addition to the species mentioned below, various tropical forms have been introduced into Kew Gardens in connection with the importation of exotic plants, and have been collected by Mr. Nicholson and sent to the British Museum. The most noticeable of these are three species of centipedes : Scolopendra morsicans, Linn., S. subspinipes, Leach, Mecistocephalus puncti- frons, Newp., and the following millipedes : Ortbomorpha kelaarti, Hum- bert from Ceylon, Trigoniulus go?si, Porat, and an undetermined species of Spirobolellus. There is no satisfactory evidence that these species breed in the conservatories. Ortbomorpba gracilis^ on the other hand, which is mentioned in the subjoined list, is of such frequent occurrence in this and other hothouses and breeds with such freedom that it may be regarded as semi-acclimatized. The interest of these importations lies in the evidence they supply that the species owe their present wide distribution in the tropics to human and not to natural agencies. CHILOPODA Centipedes Short bodied, swift running centipedes furnished with eyes and only fifteen pairs of legs I . Lithobius forficatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. at present known to the British and Channel 10, p. 638 (1758). Islands, may be distinguished from the more e familiar brown form L.forficatus by its larger head, longer legs, variegated colouring, etc. The common brown large sized species The colouring is protective, the mottled met with everywhere under stones in gardens patt ern of the body and legs harmonizing and backyards as well as in fields and woods. closely with the varied tints ^j i ights and 2. Lithobius variegatus, Leach. Zool. Misc. shades of the stones to the underside of which iii p 4.0 (1817) these centipedes cling, frequently remaining for some time motionless after discovery like Weybridge, Kingston-on-Thames. most p rocr yp tica n y co l ou red animals. Unlike This species, which is of peculiar interest L. forficatus this species is not found in the on account of its being confined so far as is neighbourhood of human habitations. CRYPTOPID^E Eyeless centipedes of medium length and thickness, possessing twenty-one pairs of short legs, and though somewhat intermediate in form between the Lithobiidse and Geophilidae resembling the latter rather than the former in their slow serpentine movements. 3. Cryptops hortensis, Leach. Tr. Linn. Soc. 4. Cryptops anomo/ans, Newport. Ann. Mag. Lond. xi. p. 384 (1815). Nat. Hist. xiii. p. 100. Kew. Kew. The common species of the genus measur- Two examples of this species have been ing about 20 mm. or less in length. found in Kew Gardens by Mr. Nicholson. 176
