172 



ON THE SPECIFIC IDENTITY OF THE AUSTRALIAN 

 PERIPATUS USUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE P. 

 L BUCK ART I, SAENGER. 



By J. J. Fletcher. 



In his well known Monograph (p. 153) Mr. Sedgwick remarks 

 that Peripatus "was reported from Australia in 1869 by Saenger." 

 It is generall}^ supposed also that this was the first intimation of 

 an Australian Peripatus. As a matter of fact there is an earlier 

 notice which has been lost sight of, Professor Leuckai't having 

 reported it in 1862. 



The second species of tlie genus to be made known was P. 

 brevis with 14 pairs of claw-bearing legs. One specimen was 

 obtained on Table Mountain in 1829, from w^hich De Blainville 

 described the species in 1837. During the stay of the "Novara" 

 at the Cape, Frauenfeld discovered a second South African species 

 of which he subsequently gave a short account in a paper entitled 

 " Aufenthalt am Cap d. g. Hoffnung wiihrend der AVeltfahrt der 

 k. k. osterreichischen Fregatte Novara.""^ This paper also has 

 been overlooked, nor is it mentioned in the bibliographical lists of 

 either Sclater {P.Z.S., 1887, ^. 133) or Sedgwick (Monograph, p. 

 209). It was to his record of this paper that Prof. Leuckart 

 appended his introductory notice of the Australian Peripatus. 



Frauenfeld says : " Der interessanteste Fund warein Peripatus 

 unter Steinen . . . Wenn nicht in der neuesten Zeit irgendwo 

 beschrieben, ist derselbe jedenfalls neu, da er in der Fusszahl, 17 

 Paare, mit keiner der wenigen alterbekannten Arten iiberein- 

 stimmt." Leuckart's short abstract runs as follows: " Frauenfeld 

 beobachtete am Cap der guten Hoffnung eine neue Art des sonder- 

 baren Gen. Peripatus mit 17 Paar Beinen. A. a. O. S. 88. (Ref. 



*Verh. der k.k. zoolog.-botan. Gesellsch. in Wien, Jahrg. 1S60, pp. 77-92. 



