No. 8. — A new Species of Peripatus from Grenada, with observations 

 on other species of the genus. 1 



By Charles T. Brues. 



It has been suspected for some time that Peripatus must occur 

 upon the Island of Grenada, but so far as I have been able to ascertain 

 no actual published reference to any specimens from there has yet 

 been made. Peripatus was first discovered upon the island of St. 

 Vincent which is only sixty-eight miles from Grenada, and as is well 

 known, dates back to 1825 when Guilding described Peripatus juli- 

 formis which he believed to be a mollusc. The Grenada species is 

 therefore of peculiar interest from an historical point of view, aside 

 from its value in giving evidence of the faunal relationships of the 

 island. 



The opportunity of collecting the species I owe to Dr. Thomas 

 Barbour, who made it possible for me to accompany Dr. G. M. Allen 

 on a trip to the Island of Grenada during August and September, 1910. 

 In addition to searching for reptiles, one of the main objects of the 

 expedition was to obtain, if possible, specimens of Peripatus. During 

 the first two weeks of our stay we collected rather thoroughly over 

 the country about St. Georges which is situated on a beautiful little 

 harbor near the southwestern extremity of the island. Here the hills 

 rise to a height of about 600 feet above sea-level, and in places the 

 environment seems well adapted to such moisture loving animals as 

 Peripatus. Our search was entirely in vain, and none of the native 

 boys who are very keen-eyed and observing, could recall ever having 

 seen anything resembling them. We did not attach very much 

 importance to this, however, for there is a large milliped related to 

 Julus which is very common in damp decaying logs and stumps. 

 This is of the same general size and form as Peripatus and the two 

 would probably be confused under the name "Congeree" which is 

 applied to the milliped. 



Towards the center of the island, the hills rise considerably higher, 

 attaining altitudes of over 2000 feet and supporting humid forests 

 that form a typical "Regenwald." In one of these higher localities, 

 surrounding a little lake there is a small forest reserve where the 



'Contributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Institution, 

 Harvard University. No. 44. 



