1915] The Ottawa Naturalist. 135 



memoirs and books has been written, and upon the study of 

 which animal, several great scientific reputations have been 

 largelv built. Francis Balfour, H. N. Moseley, Adam Sedg- 

 wick, and others no less eminent, owed much of their fame to 

 researches on Peripatus. Yet, few zoologists have ever seen 

 Peripatus "at home", and I believe that I am the first to bring 

 living specimens to Canada. I had many memorable experi- 

 ences in New Zealand; but I count it one of the greatest privi- 

 leges of my life to have seen this "very beautiful looking animal " 

 (as Dr. Arthur Shipley rightly styled it) creeping about in the 

 moss-grown decaying logs of the primeval forest, amidst giant 

 gum-trees, great tree ferns, and tangled creepers. Professor 

 Kirk, of the University of New Zealand, Wellington, N.Z., 

 kindly took me to the "hunting grounds", not far from Parirua 

 Harl)Our, on the coast north-west of the capital city. With 

 Dr. Kirk's experienced help I secured about a dozen specimens, 

 varying in size from 2 inches up to about 3 inches in length. 

 I kept them in a small vivarium which was maintained in a 

 cool and damp state by sprinkling the moss and pieces of wood 

 daily with water. The war conditions on the Pacific delayed 

 my return so seriously that my specimens were confined in their 

 close quarters for over 10 weeks, and many were quite moribund 

 by the time I reached Winnipeg, in the last week of October. 

 During their long journey of over 14,000 miles by sea and land 

 they did well, in spite of the constant noise and vibration on 

 steamers and cars, and they fed readily upon flies and particles 

 of raw beef. A number of young about f-inch in length, were 

 produced viviparously on the journey. During the last stages 

 of mv homeward journey I forebore turning them out of their 

 mossy hiding place, and I fear that none actually survived until 

 I reached Ottawa. All were, unfortunataly, dead when I examined 

 the vivarium just before the meeting of the Ottawa Field-Natur- 

 alists' Club on December 8th. 



As Professor Moseley said, Peripatus resembles a black 

 caterpillar, with a pair of anterior antennae, like the mobile 

 horns of a snail. Some of my specimens were of a deep velvety 

 brown, not velvety black, and they are such soft, elastic creatures 

 that they are able to stretch almost double their usual length. 

 If touched they shorten and pull in their antennae, and if they 

 fall over, they writhe back, bit by bit, and regain their feet 

 (17 pairs in P. novoe zealandicc) and glide off rapidly with a most 

 graceful movement, waving the antennae from side to side. On 

 exposure to light they hasten, like slow-moving shadows, to the 

 nearest shelter, and hide away. They are very soft and sensitive 

 and easily injtired by handling, or by pressure. I was surprised 

 at the rapidity with which they discovered house-flies placed 



