The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 05 (of 10)Sedgwick, Adam
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 05 (of 10)
Sedgwick, Adam
Animals
Recent investigations have also brought out more prominently the
resemblances to the Worms. Of late, considerable attention has been
directed to _Peripatus_ (see pp. 1-26), and the resemblances to the
Myriapods in its anatomy and development are such that Latzel has actually
included it in the Myriapods as an Order, Malacopoda. Now _Peripatus_ also
shows resemblances to the annelid Worms, and thus affords us a connexion to
the Worm type hardly less striking than that to the Insect. This
{78}resemblance to the Worms, which Myriapods certainly bear, was noticed
by the ancient writers, and as they had for the most part only external
appearances to consider, they pushed this idea to extremes in actually
including some of the marine Worms (Annelida) among the Centipedes. Pliny
talks of a marine _Scolopendra_ as a very poisonous animal, and there is
little doubt that he meant one of the marine worms. An old German
naturalist, Gesner, in a very curious book published in 1669 gives an
account of an annelid sea-worm which he calls _Scolopendra marina_, and
which is in all probability the sea Scolopendra which Pliny mentions. From
Gesner's account it seems to have been used as a medicine (externally
only). "The use of this animal in medicine. The animal soaked in oil makes
the hair fall off. So do its ashes mixed in oil." It was also pounded up
with honey.
This idea of Centipedes living in water survived among later naturalists.
Charles Owen, the author before quoted, mentions them as amphibious in
1742. "The Scolopendra is a little venomous worm and amphibious. When it
wounds any, there follows a blueness about the affected part and an itch
all over the body like that caused by nettles. Its weapons of mischief are
much the same with those of the spider, only larger; its bite is very
tormenting, and produces not only pruriginous pain in the flesh, but very
often distraction of mind. These little creatures make but a mean figure in
the ranks of animals, yet have been terrible in their exploits,
particularly in driving people out of their country. Thus the people of
Rhytium, a city of Crete, were constrained to leave their quarters for them
(Aelian, lib. xv. cap. 26)."
Myriapods have been considered to bear resemblances to the Crustacea, and
this to a certain extent is true, though only to a certain extent, the
resemblances being confined to the more general characteristics that they
share with other groups of animals.
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