Once, when I was fighting a particularly bad case of stomach flu, I was
running back & forth to the bathroom all night with diarrhea. About 3am, I
got up went to the Bathroom, sat down to do what needed to be done, and
after a couple of minutes felt something on my foot. It was a particularly
mean-looking centipede, about 10" long. Well, I yelled like a banshee
(fright, no bite), got up and ran out of the room.
I immediately collided with my wife in the hallway (literally), who, having
heard my yell, thought I was in trouble. When I told her what it was she
let out another blood-curdling yell, and ran back to the bedroom. I would
have followed, except that I had not finished what I had been doing. I then
had to go back in and find the critter, kill it (ugh!), and flush it. I did
not get up the rest of the morning until daylight hit.
Stay away from those Centipedes!
Ken Cusson
----------
> From: Dreyseth@aol.com
> To: Multiple recipients of list <cp@opus.hpl.hp.com>
> Subject: centipede
> Date: Thursday, November 21, 1996 12:19 PM
>
> Thank you, Loren, for responding, and trying to correct my error.
However I
> am not entirely convinced that what I had was a millipede. After reading
> your descriptions of centipedes and millipedes I remembered that I had
saved
> an example of one of the creatures that I found dead (to later draw
sketches
> of). It is very flat, with a rectangular cross section; it has two very
> sharp looking apendages or claws attached near the back of the head that
> curve down and around the sides to end at the mouth like mandibles; it
> appears to have two pairs of medium-length legs per body segment (26
legs) if
> viewed from the top, but only one pair if viewed from the bottom side
(twice
> as many segments are visible); the creature is brownish rust in color.
>
> I am not knowledgeable in this area, but it seems closer to your
description
> of centipedes, yet it was definitely eating dead and dry plant matter.
Maybe
> I am wrong in this instance, but individuals do not always behave as one
> would predict, especially in a stressful environment.
> Spiders that I have found trapped in the house (and presumeably starving)
> hungrily consume the nectar of D. muscipula; although, as you pointed
out,
> that they too are strictly carnivorous.
>
> Let me know what you think.
> I may have to do some library research now to find some answers.
>
> Kerry Tyler, from Minnesota