A MILLEPEDE'S TENT.
205
remaining in place as it came off. The operation was completed
at 3.15 p.m., about 31/2 hours being taken over it (Plate X, fig. 4).
After moulting the millepede rested quietly beside the empty
skin for a couple of days till the morning of the 24th, but on
examination at 7 p.m. on that day the moulted skin was not to
be seen (Plate X, fig. 5), presumably having been eaten by its
owner. Though I never saw the operation I can think of no other
likely method for its disappearance. On the next morning at 7
a.m. the tent was empty, a large hole having been eaten away
in one side, to allow the inmate's escape.
Another empty tent showed a few remains of the moulted skin.
I was fortunate in finding another tent being demolished by
its owner. It seemed hardly possible for such a large creature to
have come out of such a small house. It literally ate itself out
of house and home and then it returned to finish off the last
remnants (Plate XI, figs. 1 and 2). This specimen was a female.
The male (Plate XI, fig. 5) is not quite so large as the
female, as I was able to note when finding a pair together later on.
I have had no opportunity yet to read what has been previously
recorded about the spinning habits of millepedes, but I find that
those placed in one Order are known to possess silk glands and
some are reported to spin nests in which to moult and hybernate.
The millepedes have been identified for me as Polymicrodon
polydesmoides (Leach) by Dr. S. G. Brade Birks, who has made
a special study of the group. Several of the millepedes are
being kept under observation, and I hope that they will exhibit
more of their interesting habits as time goes on.
Some years ago I found that another local millepede, Poly-
desmus complanatus (L.), made a sort of earthen nest in which it
deposited its eggs. An account of this was given at the time at
a meeting of the Club.
Subsequently I observed that a similar structure was made
for moulting in by immature specimens. Discovering that
another millepede makes a silken tent for moulting in, I wondered
if it also would make a similar structure for a nest for its eggs.
I have since found, while examining my captive millepedes, that
this is so. Only this morning one of them has made a beautiful
silken nest containing a number of eggs (Plate XI, figs. 3 and 4).