272 ON THE OVIPARITY OF THE LARGER VICTORIAN PERIPATUS, 



extruded before development is complete and then always die. 

 Professor Sedgwick quotes these statements in his Monograph of 

 the genus, and yet in replying* to my letter in " Nature " he 

 states that " no one knows whether the eggs so extruded undergo 

 complete development " ! I suppose that most animals sometimes 

 extrude eggs which never complete their development, but this 

 has I'eally little to do with the question. What I have been 

 endeavouring to prove is that the larger Victorian species of 

 Peripatus is normally oviparous. The two principal arguments 

 originally brought forward — both of which have been entirely 

 overlooked by my critics — were (1) that female specimens dissected 

 at various times of the year were never found with embryos in 

 the uterus, as has been so frequently described for other species, 

 but generally with large undeveloped eggs of definite oval shape 

 and with a thick membrane ; (2) that the shell or membrane of 

 the eggs after (but not before) being laid is very definitely and 

 characteristically sculptured on the outer surface, in such a 

 manner as to recall the eggs of many insects. This sculpturing 

 alone appears to me to indicate a truly oviparous habit, and, 

 inasmuch as it affords another character common to Peripatus 

 and the Insecta, to deserve special attention. I am not aware 

 that a sculptured egg-shell has hitherto been observed in Peripatus, 

 and I should be glad to learn from Mr. Fletcher whether anything 

 of the kind has ever been found around embryos of the New 

 South Wales species which have, as he informs us,*^ been extruded 

 in the process of drowning. 



The additional evidence on the subject which I now wish to 

 bring forward consists in the subsequent history of the fourteen 

 eggs which were laid in my vivarium between the 18th May and 

 the 31st July last year, and of one which, though possibly laid 

 about the same time, was not discovered until September 16. 

 Before going any further, however, I may premise that the fact 

 that the eggs are really those of Perijmtus has been absolutely 



* " Nature," September 24th, 1891. 

 * P.L.S.N.S.W. September 30, 1891. 



