BY J. J. FLETCHER. 471 



leaving only the higher parts of the Cordillera standing out as a 

 chain of islands which have probably never been wholly submerged 

 since the commencement of the Mesozoic era, and whereon have 

 survived the Cycads, Araucaria, and other ancient vegetable fonns 

 which now abound in Australia ; the living Ceratodus of Queens- 

 land and the Marsupialia also point to the same conclusion,"* one 

 need hardly be surprised to find Peripatus here even as an aboriginal 

 inhabitant and not merely a recent immigrant from lower levels, 

 or, remembering that Peripatus though chiefly tropical or sub- 

 tropical yet occurs in New Zealand, should also be able to maintain 

 itself here in spite of the bleakness and winter snows of Mt. 

 Kosciusko. 



The specimens foi'm a series in which at first blue is the 

 predominant colour, red (or its equivalent orange or yellow) being 

 present only in an infinitesimal amount, but the latter by grada- 

 tional increments finally gains the ascendency, largely but not 

 altogether displacing the blue, and giving rise to an unusually 

 distinct pattern of longitudinal stripes. For convenience they 

 may be considered in four groups, but there are again also slight 

 gradational forms among the specimens in groups (b) and (c), and 

 the passage from group (c) to (d) is a little more abrupt than in 

 the case of the others. 



(a) To the naked eye appearing dark blue. Antennae blue. A 

 median longitudinal intensely dark blue linear stripe with a tine 

 microscopic longitudinal sometimes interrupted line free from 

 pigment down the middle of it ; the rest of the dorsal surface 

 except for some pale-coloured primary papillae in more or less 

 longitudinal series, and the outer surface of most of the legs except 

 for some minute patches of orange in the ground colour of some of 

 them, a dull dark indigo blue due to the presence of dark blue 

 papilhe on a sliglitly paler blue ground colour ; the ventral surface 

 of the body and of the legs even to the naked eye of a noticeably 

 paler blue, the i^apillse on the former especially being further 



* C. S. Wilkinson, " Notes on the Geology of N.S.W." (18S7), p. 53. 



