Malu: The Mystery Solved

Malu, or in Chinese characters, 馬陸, are millipedes. I guess I've never seen one before. One time in Church (in New Norway, Alberta) a centipede dropped on my lap and freaked me out, though. Centipedes are scarier looking. They have long legs and move really fast (if the one from Church was indicative).

This quote from another website:

Millipedes differ from centipedes in that almost every segment bears 2 pairs of legs, the body is cylindrical instead of flattened, there are no venom-bearing claws, the antennae are short, and the reproductive organs open far forward on the body. Millipedes crawl slowly, whereas centipedes crawl rapidly. On the seventh segment of the male, one or both pairs of legs are modified as copulatory organs. A pair of scent glands on each segment, opening laterally, discharge a repugnant secretion. In some species, it can be discharged to a distance of nearly a meter and, in the case of some tropical species, has caused blindness in children (Hegner and Engemann, 1968).

So, I guess I should stop picking them up....