AN INVASION OF CENTIPEDES

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1544, 28 April 1887, Page 3

AN INVASION OF CENTIPEDES

__ + . An account comer, from IMpw York < f a otraoge adventure whidi happe-ed recently on board of the schooner Lucy T . Harvey, which was suSr-ft from Port Pr new to Philadelphia. 'f'hw itLi.->.;io.v was manned by a crew of uegcoea. bhc I had left Port Prince s^me d~.yi?, when tho I captein and tho crew were u\\ surprised t.) J fee the d'ck invaded by hundreds of centipede 5 , insects whose bite is ac cangerous as that of ecorpiona They eaccr-eded, however, m kiilng them ell I with to Ing wnfor. Some days l:\te.r the 1 steward tan fioru the hold with cries of tenor, Raying that it swarmed wi.n. centipedes and ecoriionß. Soma of ihe crew, provided with lanterns descended into the hold, and the inaecta frightened by the light, came en the deck ty thousands. The sailore, again frightened, sought refuge on the masts, and the capain could not m'ke them descend. Fcr two days the centipedes swarmed on the deck, and not one of the sailors would teka the riak of quiting- his refuse. A Newfoundland dog who was chained m front, having been bitten, disd m a few seoonds The captain and the mate remained at their posts, tried to destroy the insects by placing here and there pans of burning sulphur, but they only killed a hundred, and there were still thousands. At last a tempest, which under other circumstances would have been thought a great nuisanoe, arose, and the sea swept the deck, and soon the inseots which had not been carried off by tho waves died of cold. The schooner had a cargo composed of wood for building, and oedar, of which much was wormeaten, and m the Interior of which ihe centipedes had probably made their ne^ts.