Centipede

sen'ti-ped, a class of animals allied to insects and crustacea. The centipede has a worm-shaped body of from 6 to 200 segments, with a head distinctly separated from the body by a neck. Each segment has a pair of legs, and the head bears a pair of antennae. Centipede means having one hundred feet. The millipede, or thousand legged worm, differs chiefly in having two pairs of legs on each segment, a body less flattened, and shorter antennae. The centipede lives on insects; the millipede on decaying wood. Our northern species are harmless. The centipede is useful in houses. It springs upon water-bugs and other insects, holding them down with its numerous legs until it has sucked the life out of them.

The California centipede is from five to eight inches in length. It has twenty-two segments--twenty-two pairs of legs. Each "leg" ends in a sharp point. When angered the animal clasps its victim, driving all forty-four points into the flesh, stinging as if with hot needles. Boys mount and sell them as curiosities.