Myriapoda

Summary

The number of species of Myriapods found in Great Britain is not a very large one. This may in part be due to the alterations that have been made in recent times in the classification of the group. The two authors who have done most work in the enumeration of the British species are Newport and Leach. At the time when they wrote, the total number of species known was not a quarter of those known at the present day; and the characters which these writers used in the determination of their species were not the same as those which are utilized in more modern times. This renders it a very difficult matter to come to a conclusion as to how far the species known in this country extend on the Continent, and whether we have in this country any species altogether peculiar to it.

Though the range of species both of Chilopods and Diplopods is a wide one in one way, yet in another way they are extremely local. This seeming contradiction is due to the fact that one kind of habitat suits certain species and they are rarely to be found in a place where the circumstances are different. This is so much the case that Dr Karl Verhoeff arranged the Diplopoda according to their habitat; thus: (1) Diplopods living on heavy land; (2) on sandy land; (3) under stones; (4) on leaves; (5) under bark; (6) on plants; (7) cave Diplopods; (8) Alpine Diplopods; (9) foreign Diplopods.