Toni Lee Sensenich, age 13, of Ephrata, Pa., for her question:

WHY IS IT CALLED A CENTIPEDE?

A centipede is one of a group of small animals that look like caterpillars or worms. They have narrow bodies which are divided into many sections or segments that lie behind each other down the back. Each section has a pair of thin legs.

The name comes from the Latin centi, which means hundred. And the centipede certainly looks as if it has 100 legs. Actually, an adult centipede may have from 15 to 170 pairs of legs, with young ones having only seven pairs.

A centipede has a pair of antennae on its head and two pair of jaws. The first pair of legs behind the head have claws and are used for fighting. They are called poison claws because a gland in the centipede's head fills these claws with poison used to kill mollusks, worms and insects.