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Art. XXXII.—Description of a new Pill-Millipede.
[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 23rd September, 1885.]
The Myriapoda have occasioned much diversity of opinion amongst naturalists in time gone by. Some have classed them with insects, some with spiders, and some with Crustacea, for they possess characters allied to each of these; but the distinction of a separate class is now generally accorded them, and this class is divided into four orders. I. Chilopoda, contains the carnivorous centipedes. II. Chilognatha, the vegetable-eating millipedes (Iulidæ), the gallyworms (Polydesmus), and the pill-millipedes. III. The third order was created for the reception of a peculiar little animal, one-twentieth of an inch in length, which possessed characters totally different from those of any member of the two orders previously mentioned. This little creature was discovered and described by Sir J. Lubbock. IV. The fourth order contains that extraordinary genus of animals found in the West Indies, South America, South Africa, and New Zealand; I refer to the Peripatus. So puzzling are the characters presented by this genus, that it has been at different times referred to the errant annelids, the leeches, the tapeworms and the Myriapoda; in the last-mentioned it remains for the present. And though its position is by no means satisfactory, it yet appears to be more nearly related to the Myriapods than to any other group.
The animal to be noticed this evening belongs to the second order, or vegetable-eating millipedes, and will be called Sphærotherium novæ-zealandiæ.
Sphærotherium.
The segments resemble those of Glomeris, but are fourteen in number, including the head, and twenty-one pairs of legs. Eyes grouped together, and situate on an eminence on each side of the head, just above the insertion of the antennæ.
Sphærotherium novæ-zealandiæ.
Head, coarsely punctured, especially near anterior margin, which is notched in the centre, and strengthened by a ridge, immediately behind which is a transverse groove, and in front a number of yellow and brown hairs; the groove and the space around is closely but coarsely punctured, the punctures becoming much more distant as the posterior margin is approached.
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Nuchal Plate.—Anterior margin strengthened by a ridge, produced in the centre, but slightly depressed on superior surface; posterior margin rounded; entire but somewhat irregular.
Dorsal Plates.—Smooth, highly polished. First dorsal segment with a very strong lateral ridge, continued up the anterior margin beyond its articulation with the nuchal plate; in the depression immediately behind the ridge are a number of coarse punctures; a shallow transverse depression about one-third of the distance from anterior margin; the anterior lateral margins very obtusely rounded; the plate produced backwards, so that if the line of junction between the first and second segments was continued, the portion cut off would be nearly semicircular. Last dorsal segment arched, margin entire, sharp, a wide shallow depression immediately inside the margin, expanding upwards at both ends. Intermediate segments smooth above, with the margin rounded in front and pointed behind; strengthened by a ridge, and with a triangular excavation at the anterior angle, most distinct in the fifth and ninth segments; a few yellow hairs in, and a prominent oblong tubercle just above and in front of, each excavation, especially noticeable in fifth to ninth segments. First dorsal segment widest; 2nd to 6th about even; 7th wider; 8th to 11th about even.
Colour.—Light brown, marbled with darker.
Length, 1.35; breadth, .8; width of head, .4; depth of head, .25.
Habitat.—Tinakori Hills, Rimutaka Mountains, Wellington; Stratford, New Plymouth. The specimens from Stratford were presented by Mr. A. Burrell.
No representative of this genus is found in England, but an allied though much smaller form, the common pill-millipede (Glomeris marginata), may be seen in almost every English garden; and in old times, both it and the armadillo wood-louse were used in medicine, and may still be found amongst the old stock of some druggists' shops, probably because when rolled up they look like pills—hence the name; and when coated with gum and flour and taken with sufficient faith they were considered very efficacious in various complaints.
1. Profile.
2. Head, nuchal plate, and first segment, front view.
3. Last two dorsal segments from behind.