venomous snakes. On one long journey to Ghana, the big chief of the tribe died the day that Dean arrived in the village, and Dean was lucky to escape with his life. It was around the time of this trip that he wrote the following letter in answer to my inquiries concerning the venom.
My dear Hall, in regard to your question about centipedes: there are about 3,000 species. They range from about 1cm in diameter up to about 30cm in length; from 15 pairs of legs to about 177 pairs. For prédation they possess a pair of venom glands with forcipules at the first trunk segment. They are bilaterally symmetrical, of course, metamerically segmented animals with a double ventral nerve cord, typically with a ganglion in each segment and concentrations of nervous tissue above and below the gut at the ass-end of the body. Centipedes are sexually dimorphic. Also, the external genitalia of males are often concealed within the anal segment, so that the sex may not easily be determined. Slight pressure will, however, often cause them to evert, thus allowing the sex to be determined.
But you wanted to know about the venom. There is an extensive but scattered literature concerning the effects on Man. Instances of death from bites of scolopendrids were reported in the older literature, but recent authors are inclined not to credit the reports; since the aggressor was not actually seen, it may have been a scorpion or a snake. There is the tale of the large centipede that crawled across the abdomen and chest of a Confederate army officer, leaving a number of deep red spots forming a broad red streak. Violent, painful convulsions soon set in, accompanied by excessive swelling of the bitten areas. The man was dead two days later.
The bite of the European Scolopendra cingulata causes pain, and at worst inflammation, edema and superficial necrosis, but the pain goes quickly and the symptoms disappear in a few days. A fellow named Klingel was bitten some thirty times by this type. In twenty-six cases the only symptom was pain, which disappeared in about twenty minutes. In the other four cases the pain was more severe, like a wasp's sting, and the hand and arm became numb, with some pain in the neck and chest. These symptoms abated after a day or two. Sometimes the animal bit painlessly, especially an hour after killing mealworms.
The bite of S. hews is said to cause intense pain, and the animal also produces a red streak where it has crawled over the body. S. subpinipes produces intense pain, blistering, swelling, local inflammation, buboes and subcutaneous hemorrhage. S. viridicornis in South America causes pain for eight hours and small superficial necroses after twelve days. There are many more such accounts: vomiting, headache, swelling of a large area around the bite, which had a blackish center, subcutaneous bleeding, etc.
Apparently India, Burma and Ceylon have one of the worst species; the recovery from bites is slow, sometimes as long as three months. Every case seen developed acute lymphangitis with edema, as well as inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissues. In most cases a local necrotic process developed at the site of the bite, and in some cases this progressed to a condition not unlike phagedenic ulceration (a rapidly spreading and sloughing ulcer).
The most serious symptoms followed the bites of the Andaman Islands species, which can reach a length of about 33cm. Klingel found that animals that had not fed for several days could bite harmlessly and therefore the lack of poison could not be ascribed to lack of poison in the glands. Poor Klingel: I wonder if he used himself for that one too. The only well-authenticated fatality appears to be that of a child of seven years, bitten on the head by a Scolopendra in the Philippines.
The effects of the bite of the Scolopendra vary with the time of year. In winter the bite causes, at most, a small pimple that disappears in an hour. In spring, when
My dear Hall, in regard to your question about centipedes: there are about 3,000 species. They range from about 1cm in diameter up to about 30cm in length; from 15 pairs of legs to about 177 pairs. For prédation they possess a pair of venom glands with forcipules at the first trunk segment. They are bilaterally symmetrical, of course, metamerically segmented animals with a double ventral nerve cord, typically with a ganglion in each segment and concentrations of nervous tissue above and below the gut at the ass-end of the body. Centipedes are sexually dimorphic. Also, the external genitalia of males are often concealed within the anal segment, so that the sex may not easily be determined. Slight pressure will, however, often cause them to evert, thus allowing the sex to be determined.
But you wanted to know about the venom. There is an extensive but scattered literature concerning the effects on Man. Instances of death from bites of scolopendrids were reported in the older literature, but recent authors are inclined not to credit the reports; since the aggressor was not actually seen, it may have been a scorpion or a snake. There is the tale of the large centipede that crawled across the abdomen and chest of a Confederate army officer, leaving a number of deep red spots forming a broad red streak. Violent, painful convulsions soon set in, accompanied by excessive swelling of the bitten areas. The man was dead two days later.
The bite of the European Scolopendra cingulata causes pain, and at worst inflammation, edema and superficial necrosis, but the pain goes quickly and the symptoms disappear in a few days. A fellow named Klingel was bitten some thirty times by this type. In twenty-six cases the only symptom was pain, which disappeared in about twenty minutes. In the other four cases the pain was more severe, like a wasp's sting, and the hand and arm became numb, with some pain in the neck and chest. These symptoms abated after a day or two. Sometimes the animal bit painlessly, especially an hour after killing mealworms.
The bite of S. hews is said to cause intense pain, and the animal also produces a red streak where it has crawled over the body. S. subpinipes produces intense pain, blistering, swelling, local inflammation, buboes and subcutaneous hemorrhage. S. viridicornis in South America causes pain for eight hours and small superficial necroses after twelve days. There are many more such accounts: vomiting, headache, swelling of a large area around the bite, which had a blackish center, subcutaneous bleeding, etc.
Apparently India, Burma and Ceylon have one of the worst species; the recovery from bites is slow, sometimes as long as three months. Every case seen developed acute lymphangitis with edema, as well as inflammation of the skin and subcutaneous tissues. In most cases a local necrotic process developed at the site of the bite, and in some cases this progressed to a condition not unlike phagedenic ulceration (a rapidly spreading and sloughing ulcer).
The most serious symptoms followed the bites of the Andaman Islands species, which can reach a length of about 33cm. Klingel found that animals that had not fed for several days could bite harmlessly and therefore the lack of poison could not be ascribed to lack of poison in the glands. Poor Klingel: I wonder if he used himself for that one too. The only well-authenticated fatality appears to be that of a child of seven years, bitten on the head by a Scolopendra in the Philippines.
The effects of the bite of the Scolopendra vary with the time of year. In winter the bite causes, at most, a small pimple that disappears in an hour. In spring, when
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