Notes on the millipedes, centipedes, scorpions etc., of the Malay Peninsula and Siam
Captain Stanley S. Flower (5th Fusiliers) published this 48-page faunal survey in 1901, drawing on four years of fieldwork (1895–1898) across the Straits Settlements, the Native States, and Siam to produce a practical taxonomic account of the region’s millipedes, centipedes, scorpions, whip scorpions, spiders, and related arachnids. The work was explicitly designed for European residents who, arriving from England where such creatures were rare and harmless, needed to identify the “wonderful variety” of these animals they encountered in their daily lives (p. 1).
Summary
Flower’s paper is structured as a sequential treatment of each taxonomic group, beginning with a provisional classification of the Sub-kingdom Arthropoda adopted from Pocock and Lankester (1897), then proceeding through Diplopoda, Symphyla, Chilopoda, Gigantostraca (horseshoe crabs), and the various orders of Arachnida (pp. 2–3). For each group he provides a morphological key, native Malay and Siamese names, and species-level accounts that combine taxonomic identification with detailed natural-history observations drawn from his own collections. The specimens he gathered were distributed between the British Museum of Natural History, the Royal Siamese Museum in Bangkok, and the Raffles Museum (p. 1).
The millipede section is the most extensive, covering the sub-classes Pselaphognatha and Chilognatha across the orders Oniscomorpha, Limacomorpha, and Helminthomorpha, with particular attention to the large, colourful species of Thyropygus and Spirostreptus that dominate the jungle floor of the Peninsula (pp. 5–16). Flower records a Spirostreptus vittatus measuring 9¾ inches (248 mm) from the Kuala Kangsa Pass, Perak, and a Thyropygus bowringii female reaching 8⅝ inches (220 mm) in Bangkok (pp. 9–11). The centipede section documents Scolopendra subspinipes and S. de haanii as the dominant large forms, with a maximum measured length of 281 mm for the latter (pp. 21–25). The scorpion treatment includes detailed accounts of Archisometrus mucronatus, Palamneus silenus (the “Elephant Scorpion” of Siam, reaching 135 mm), and Hormurus australasiae, with observations on feeding behaviour, sexual dimorphism, and the effects of stings on humans (pp. 29–36).
A distinctive feature of the paper is its emphasis on seasonal ecology and behavioural observation. Flower documents how millipedes on Kosichang island swarmed in the wet season but virtually disappeared by the dry season (p. 4), how Thyropygus bowringii emerges in Siam only during the rainy season (p. 10), and how Thelyphonus schimkewitchii is chiefly visible from April to August (p. 38). He also records the bioluminescence of Orphnæus brevilabiatus, the luminous centipede, which emits a “bright but lurid green phosphorescent light” when disturbed (p. 25).
Key Findings
- Flower identified and recorded specimens across at least 15 localities in the Malay Peninsula (Penang, Singapore, Perak, Kedah, Johore, Selangor) and Siam (Bangkok, Ayuthia, Chantaboon, Kosichang, Dong Phya Phai, Tahkamen, Kabin), establishing a baseline distribution for each species (pp. 1, 9–12, 21–25, 30–36).
- The largest millipede recorded was Spirostreptus vittatus at 248 mm from the Kuala Kangsa Pass, Perak; the largest centipede was Scolopendra de haanii at 281 mm total length from Bangkok; the largest scorpion was Palamneus silenus at 135 mm from Chantaboon (pp. 9, 22, 35).
- Two cases of scorpion sting by Archisometrus mucronatus were documented with clinical detail: in both instances, immersion in a strong solution of permanganate of potash relieved pain within 15–30 minutes (pp. 32–33).
- Flower observed Thelyphonus schimkewitchii (a whip scorpion) successfully sting him through the skin, producing a swollen, inflamed finger with a visible puncture wound, contradicting the common assumption that these animals are entirely harmless (pp. 38–39).
- The horseshoe crab Limulus tridentatus was recorded at a total length of 894 mm (35¼ inches) from Kudat, British North Borneo, making it the largest individual of any group treated in the paper (p. 26).
- Flower documented the development of Orthomorpha coarctata from a 2 mm pure-white juvenile to an 18 mm adult with rich dark-reddish-brown dorsal colouration, providing one of the earliest accounts of millipede ontogeny in the region (p. 15).
Conclusion
Flower’s definitive historical takeaway is that the arthropod fauna of the Malay Peninsula and Siam, while taxonomically rich and often spectacular in size and colour, is overwhelmingly harmless to humans, and that the practical danger posed by scorpion stings and centipede bites is manageable with simple first-aid measures. The paper’s enduring value lies in its role as a foundational regional checklist: it records numerous species for the first time from specific localities in the Peninsula and Siam, provides the first detailed natural-history accounts of several large millipedes and scorpions in the region, and explicitly invites “some more competent writer to compose a full catalogue” (p. 1), acknowledging its own limitations as a preliminary survey rather than a definitive monograph.
Context
- The paper was produced within the network of colonial natural history that linked the Straits Settlements to the British Museum of Natural History, with R. J. Pocock serving as the principal taxonomic authority for identifications and species descriptions (p. 1).
- Several species described or first recorded here (Chærilus agilis, Chærilus rectimanus, Ctenus floweri, Oncopus alticeps) were formally named by Pocock or Cambridge in the same period, indicating that Flower’s collections directly fed into the broader taxonomic literature of the 1890s (pp. 34, 45–47).