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CENTAURS

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 672 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CENTAURS , in See also:

Greek See also:mythology, a See also:race of beings See also:part See also:horse part See also:man, dwelling in the mountains of See also:Thessaly and See also:Arcadia. The name has been derived (I) from KEVTEiv (goad) and Tai3pos (See also:bull), implying a See also:people who were primarily herdsmen, (2) from KEVTESV and the See also:common termination -avpos or aiipa ("See also:air ") i.e. " spearmen." The former is unsatisfactory partly from the philological standpoint, and the latter, though not certain, is preferable. The centaurs were the offspring of Ixion and Nephele (the See also:rain-See also:cloud), or of Kentauros (the son of these two) and some Magnesian mares or of See also:Apollo and Hebei They are best known for their fight with the See also:Lapithae, caused by their See also:attempt to carry off Dezdameia on the See also:day of her See also:marriage to Peirithous, See also:king of the Lapithae, himself the son of Ixion. See also:Theseus, who happened to be See also:present, assisted Peirithous, and the Centaurs were driven off (See also:Plutarch, Theseus, 30; See also:Ovid, Metam. xii. 210; Diod. Sic. iv. 69, 70). In later times they are often represented See also:drawing the See also:car of See also:Dionysus, or See also:bound and ridden by See also:Eros, in allusion to their drunken and amorous habits. Their See also:general See also:character is that of See also:wild, lawless and inhospitable beings, the slaves of their See also:animal passions, with the exception of Pholus and See also:Chiron. They are variously explained by a fancied resemblance to the shapes of clouds, or as See also:spirits of the rushing See also:mountain torrents or winds. As See also:children of Apollo, they are taken to signify the rays of the See also:sun.

It is suggested as the origin of the See also:

legend, that the Greeks in See also:early times, to whom See also:riding was See also:rank as distinct classes of Arthropods. See also:Pocock, indeed, definitely associated the Chilopoda with the See also:Hexapoda in a See also:group, the Opisthogoneata (Opisthogonea), See also:equivalent to a group, the Progoneata (Prosogonea), comprising the Diplopoda, Pauropoda and Symphyla. As the basis for this See also:classification was taken the position of the generative orifices which open in the Opisthogonea at the posterior end and in the Prosogonea near the anterior end of the See also:body. As a See also:matter of fact, in the Chilopoda they are Situated on the penultimate or pretelsonic somite; in the Hexapoda upon the antepenultimate somite (male) or a little farther forward (See also:female). Moreover, the See also:recent researches of Heymons into the See also:embryology of Scolopendra, one of the Chilopods, has shown a See also:close See also:correspondence in the number of cephalic metameres between the Chilopoda and Hexapoda, a correspondence which has not yet been established in the See also:case of the DipIopoda or Symphyla. This last See also:discovery bears out the view of relationship between the centipedes and See also:insects, to the exclusion of the Diplopoda, Symphyla and Pauropoda. But evernif in the future it can be shown that all these See also:groups can be brought into See also:line with respect to the See also:metamerism of the See also:head, the position of the generative orifices will remain as a fundamental and See also:constant character, distinguishing the Chilopoda from the other groups of so-called " Myriapods " and the Hexapoda from the Symphyla, which in many particulars they resemble. Structure of the Chilopoda.—The exoskeletal elements of a typical somite consist of a dorsal See also:plate or tergum, a ventral plate or sternum, a lateral or pleural membrane, often strengthened with chitinous sclerites, and a pair of appendages. At the anterior extremity there is a head-See also:shield or cephalite, which bears eyes, when present, and a pair of antennae. In all centipedes, except the Scutsgeridae, the preantennal portion of the cephalite is sharply reflexed, ventrally forrhing an See also:area called the clypeus. The inferior edge of this bears the See also:labrum, which is usually represented by a small median, and two large lateral plates. The appendages are modified as a single pair of antennae, four pairs. of jaws or gnathites, a variable number of walking legs and a single pair of generative limbs or gonopods.

The antennae, articulated to the forepart of the head and preoral in position, are See also:

long and flexible and consist of fourteen or more segments. The jaws of the first pair of mandibles are stout and bisegmented, with a dentate cutting edge. Those of the second pair or maxillae vary considerably in structure in different groups. ,I hey are foliaceous and are usually regarded as biramous. In some genera (Scutigera, Lithobius) the inner See also:branch consists of two distinct segments See also:meeting those of the opposite See also:side in the See also:middle line. The See also:outer branch, which is always larger, consists of three or four segments. Generally, however, the basal segments of the two branches are coalesced with each other and with the corresponding segments of the opposite side to See also:form a single broad transverse plate. The above described See also:condition seen in Sculigera suggests that two pairs of jaws may be involved in the formation of the maxillae in the Chilopoda. The jaws of the third pair, the palpognaths or second pair of maxillae, resemble dwarfed walking legs, and consist of five or six segments, of which the basal or coxa is See also:united mesially to its See also:fellow. The jaws of the See also:fourth pair, the toxicognaths or See also:poison-jaws, are long and powerful, and consist like the legs primarily of six segments, whereof the basal is large and usually fused with its fellow to form a large coxal plate, the second is small and generally suppressed by See also:fusion with the third, the fourth and fifth are also small, while the See also:sixth is transformed into a See also:great piercing See also:fang, at the tip of which opens the duct of a poison gland lodged within the appendage. The tergal elements of the somites bearing the antennae, mandibles and maxillae appear to be represented by the head-shield or cephalite. The tergal See also:element of the somite bearing the palpognath is usually suppressed ; that of the toxicognath is sometimes of large See also:size as in some Geophilomorpha (Himantarium), sometimes small as iri Scutigera, Lithobius, Craterosligmus, sometimes suppressed probably by fusion with the tergum of the first See also:leg-bearing somite as in the Scolopendromorpha.

The sternal plates of all the See also:

jaw-bearing somites have disappeared, except in the case of the somite of the toxicognath, where it may be vestigial. In the case of the somites bearing the walking legs the tergal and sternal elements are preserved without fusion with the corresponding plates of the preceding or succeeding somites, so that great flexibility of the body is retained. The only exception to this is presented by Scutigera, where the terga corresponding to the sotnites bearing the fifteen pairs of legs are reduced by fusion and suppression to seven. The walking legs are articulated to the inferior portion of the pleural or lateral area of the somites close to the See also:external margins of the sterna, which widely See also:separate those of the See also:left from those of the right side. Generally speaking the legs resemble each other, although as a See also:rule they progressively increase in length towards the posterior end of the body. They consist typically of six segments, of which the basal is termed the coxa and the apical the See also:tarsus. The tarsus is armed with a single terminal claw, and, except in the Geophilomorpha and a few genera of other orders, is divided by a mesial transverse See also:joint into two segments, as is the case in Scolopendra and Lithobius for example. But in some of the longer-legged, See also:swift-footed centipedes of the See also:order Lithobiomorpha (e.g. Henicops, Cermatobius) the tarsi are further subdivided. The multiplication of sub-segments reaches its maximum in Scutigera, where the tarsi are extremely long, slender, flexible and annulated. The legs of the last pair are directed backwards in a line parallel with the long See also:axis of the body, so that their coxae, fused in some cases with the pleural sclerites (Scolopendra, Geophilus), or See also:free and of large size (Scutigera, Lithobius), serve to protect the small genital and anal somites. They are often greatly modified.

In the See also:

males of some See also:species of Lithobius one or more of the segments is inflated or furnished with tubercle-bearing, tactile bristles; in some Geophilomorpha the whole See also:limb is thickened in the male See also:sex. In most Scolopendromorpha the basal segment is armed beneath with spines or spikes (Dacetum, Scolopocryptops) ; sometimes the whole appendage is thickened and terminated by a See also:sharp and serrate claw (Theatops, Plutonium). In these cases the legs See also:act as weapons of See also:defence and offence. In other cases (Newportia) the tarsi lose the claw, become many-jointed and act as feelers, while in Alipes the terminal segments are flattened, See also:leaf-like and furnished with a See also:peculiar stridulating See also:organ. The genital somite is always small and sometimes retractile within the somite bearing the last pair of legs. Its tergal plate is usually retained, but its sternal plate is generally suppressed. In See also:females of the Lithobiomorpha and Scutigeromorpha the appendages of this somite—the gonopodsare jointed, forcipate and relatively well See also:developed although small. In the females of the other orders they are greatly reduced or absent. In the males their development varies considerably. They are well developed in Scutigera, where they form two pairs of digitiform sclerites, whereas in the Geophilomorpha they are reduced to a pair of very See also:short, two-jointed limbs. The anal somite is always small and limbless. In Craterostigmus the genital and anal somites are represented by a pair of elongate valves projecting between the legs of the last pair.

The structure of the gonopods is unknown, and the homology between the two valves and the skeletal elements of the somites in question not clearly understood. A study of the development of Scolopendra has shown that the antennae of the adult are the appendages of the second postoral metamere and the mandibles those of the fourth, the first postoral metamere, which has a pair of transient preantennal appendages, and the third, which has no appendages, being excalated at an early See also:

stage of embryonic growth. Further-more, behind the legs of the last pair two pairs of appendages are present. The second of these persists as the gonopods of the adult, but the first is suppressed. Possibly, however, it is represented in the male of Scutigera by the anterior branches of the gonopods. The cerebral or cephalic portion of the See also:nervous See also:system consists of a quadrilobate See also:mass. From the two upper lobes, which are set transversely, arise the ocular nerves; from the two See also:lower lobes, which are united by a transverse commis-sure, See also:spring the antennal nerves in front and the chords which form the oesophageal See also:collar be-See also:hind. These chords unite below the See also:oesophagus to form the See also:compound suboesophageal ganglion, whence the nerves for the four pairs of jaws arise. The ventral system consists of a See also:double chord uniting in each of the leg-bearing segments in a ganglionic swelling which gives off four pairs of nerves to the limbs and tissues of the somite. There is a single ganglion in the genital segment. Eyes are frequently absent. When present they may be either See also:simple or compound, i.e. consisting externally of a single See also:lens (monomeniscous) of or an See also:aggregation of lenses (polymeniscous).

Simple eyes vary in number on each side of the head from one, as in Henicops, to as many as See also:

forty, as in some species of Lithobius. In cL Modified from Heymons, Bib. Zool., Igor, by permission of E. Nagele. FIG. I. A, See also:Diagram of anterior extremity of an early embryo of Scolopendra, ventral view; cl, clypeus; lb, labrum; m, mouth; p.a, preantennal appendage; a, antenna; int, premandibular rudiment; mdl, mandible; mx, maxilla; p.g, palpognath; t.g, toxicognath; lg. I, first pair of walking legs. B, Posterior end of a later embryo of Scolopendra, ventral view, showing the anal segment or telson (t) ; the legs of the last pair in the adult (lg. 21) and the two rudimentary pairs of legs (lg. 22, lg. 23).

Scolopendra,where there are four, the corneal lens is a biconvex thickening of the cuticle. The soft or retinal portion of the See also:

eye beneath the lens consists of an aggregation of large cells forming a single layer continuous with the epidermic cells of the circumocular area. Thus the eye is monostichous, The arrangement of the cells, however, is peculiar. They are invaginated to form what may be described as a very deep See also:cup with exceedingly thick walls and correspondingly narrow median space, the outer See also:surface of the cup being formed by the inner or proximal ends of the cells and the inner surface by their outer or distal ends. It results from this arrangement that the cells forming all but the bottom of the invagination See also:lie See also:horizon-See also:tally, i.e. at right angles to the See also:vertical axis of the eye. From the distal ends of the cells are secreted chitinous rhabdomeres, forming a rhabdom which occupies and fills up the central portion of the cup beneath the middle of the corneal lens. The outer ends of the cells are nucleated and are continuous with the See also:fibres of the optic See also:nerve, large See also:accessory glands; and a pair of tubes, or vesiculae seminaie. , open, one on each side, into the divided sperm ducts close to then point of origin above the See also:intestine. The See also:organs of the female are very similar. There is a large median ovary followed by a short oviduct forming a circum-intestinal collar and a common See also:atrium. Into the latter open a pair of short receptacula seminis and the slender duct of two pairs of large accessory glands. There is nothing in the female corresponding to the supra-intestinal vesiculae seminales of the male.

In the male of Scolopendra,on the contrary, there Len, B C. Zertti .................. B, See also:

Section of Eye of Scolopendra. len, C, Ocular unit or ommatidium Corneal lens; See also:ret, retinal or visual cells; of compound Eye of .Scutigera. n.opt, optic nerve: len, corneal lenticle ; c.c, crystal- line See also:cone; I, pigmented cells of which passes from the outer surface of the bottom of the cup to the are as many as twelve pairs of outermost tier; 2, 3, retinular See also:brain. A and B after Heymons, Bibl. Zool., 19or, by permission of E, Nagele. A, Brain of Scolopendra. n.See also:ant, Antennal nerves; n.opt, ocular nerves; n.pr.ant, preantennal nerves'; oes.See also:comm, oesophageal commissure. Compound eyes are found only in the Stutigeridae. Externally the eye consists of one See also:hundred or more little lenses or lenticles. The retinal portion is composed of a corresponding number of ocular See also:units or ommatidia. Each ommatidium is an elongated cone with its broad extremity abutting against the corneal lenticle. It consists of a non-nucleated crystalline cone developed from embryonic cells, and is enveloped in three tiers of large nucleated cells.

The cells of the outermost tier are heavily pigmented; those of the middle and innermost (proximal) tiers, the retinal cells, are at their inner extremities produced into threads continuous with the fibres of the optic nerve. In the space between these cells and the crystalline cone which they surround, there is a layer of rhabdomeres deposited apparently by the cells. The alimentary See also:

canal is a simple See also:tube See also:running without convolutions from the mouth to the anus. Its anterior portion or pharynx, which arises from the stomodaeal "invagination in the embryo, is short; a pair of large, so-called salivary glands open into it. The mesenteric part of the canal is relatively wide and receives at its junction with the hind-gut a,' the excretory products of a pair of very long and slender malpighian tubes of Alimentary Canal of the canal, arising from the proctodaeum, Lithobius. is relatively short and narrow. a, Anus. The generative organs vary in struc- mg, See also:Mid-gut. tural details in different centipedes. In hg, Hind-gut. the male of Lithobius the testes consist mt, Malpighian tubule. of a single coiled tube lying above the 's.gl, Salivary gland. alimentary canal. The slender vas de- 1g.15, Legs of first ferens which proceeds from its, hinder and fifteenth pairs. end divides posteriorly into a right and left branch, embracing the gut and uniting beneath it to form a common chamber or atrium within the genital orifice. The atrium receives the secretion of two pairs ofsomewhat sausage-shaped testes, cells of middle and innermost approximated two by two. From tiers; rbd, rhabdomeres; n.opt, each pair proceed two slender optic nerve; pg, pigment cells. ducts which open into a median duct coiled in the posterior third of the body and much See also:expanded in the last three of the leg-bearing segments. The right and left portions of the intestinal See also:ring of the genital duct are unequally developed, and there are no vesiculae seminales, but two pairs of After Heymons, Bibl.

Zool., 19or, by permission of E. Nagele. accessory glands communicate with the genital atrium as in Lithobius. In the female Scolopendra ,the right and left portions of the intestinal collar are also unequally developed, and only a single pair of accessory glands besides the receptacula seminis open into the atrium. The See also:

heart is tubular and lies in the middle dorsal line immediately g6. arc beneath the integument. It consists of a See also:series of See also:chambers corresponding roughly to the leg-bearing segments, and lies in a See also:blood-sinus formed by a pericardial membrane whence large alary muscles extend to the sides of the body. Each chamber gives off in Scolopendra a pair of See also:fine lateral vessels, and is furnished at its posterior A, Anterior extremity of B, Two segments of Scolo-Scolopendra, showing two pendra, showing the branching chambers of the heart (h), the and anastomosing tracheae and a aortic ring (a), the alae cordis spiracle (sp). (a.m) and a cardiac orifice (o). , extremity with a pair of orifices by which the blood re-enters the organ from the pericardial space. From the anterior chamber, which lies in the first or second leg-bearing segment, proceed three See also:arteries, a median which runs forwards into the head to See also:supply the brain and other organs, and a lateral which with its fellow of the opposite side forms an oesophageal aortic collar. From the sides of the latter arise vessels to the gnathites, and from its inferior portion an unpaired See also:vessel passes forwards into the head and another back-wards above the nerve chord to the posterior end of the body, supplying each segment in its course with a delicate lateral branch. In Scolopendra the chambers of the heart, excepting the first and last, which are small, are subequal in size; but in forms like Scutigera where the terga are very unequal in size a corresponding inequality in the size of the chambers is manifested.

In all centipedes, except Scutigera, respiration is effected by chitinized tracheal tubes which extend with their ramifications throughout the body and open to the exterior by means of spiracles perforating the lateral or pleural membrane of more or fewer of the somites below the edge of the terga. Spiracles are never present upon the anal, genital and last leg-bearing somites, and only rarely, as in Henicops, upon the somite bearing the legs of the first pair. In the See also:

majority of cases the spiracles are circular, sigmoid or slit-like orifices, with chitinized rim, leading into a See also:pocket-like integumental infolding, from which emanate numerous small tracheal tubes which soon anastomose to form the See also:main tracheal trunks. In Dacetum, one of the Scolopendridae, there is no pocket-like in-folding, the small tracheal tubes opening See also:direct to the exterior on a large subcircular plate where their apertures fuse to form a complicated network. The apertures, as in the case of other genera, are protected by fine hairs; and the tracheae themselves are strengthened by a fine See also:spiral filament. In the Lithobiidae the tracheae do not anastomose; but in Scolopendra and Geophilus the main trunks in each segment fuse transversely with those of the opposite side and also longitudinally with those of the preceding and succeeding segments. In Scutigera the tracheae differ both in structure and position from those of all other Chilopoda. The spiracles, unpaired and seven in number, open in the median dorsal line. Each leads into a short See also:sac from which five tracheal tubes depend into the pericardial blood-sinus. Existing Chilopoda may be classified as follows, into five orders referable to two subclasses Subclass I. Pleurostigma. Order i Geophilomorpha.

„ 2 Scolopendromorpha. 3 Craterostigmomorpha. 4 Lithobiomorpha. Subclass II. Notostigma. Order 5 Scutigeromorpha.

End of Article: CENTAURS

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