190 IDENTITY OF THE AUSTRALIAN PERIPATUS, 



Of P. capensis, Sedgwick says : " The period of gestation is 

 thirteen months; that is to say, the ova pass into the oviducts 

 about one month before the young of the preceding year are 



born The young are born in April and May " 



(Monograph, p. 165). 



Of F. 7iovce-zeala7idice, Captain Hutton says that it appears to 

 breed all the year round; and that he found the uterus crowded 

 with embryos in September and November. The views of Mr. 

 Sedgwick and Miss Sheldon are summed up by the latter as 

 follows : — " Probably the ova pass from the ovary into the uterus 

 in December, and the young are born in July, the development 

 thus occupying a period of about eight months. This, though 

 apparently usually the case, cannot be universal, since in each lot 

 there were one or two females which contained embryos ready for 

 birth, and also the embryos in one female vary somewhat in age." 



Sclater, therefore, hardly satisfactorily states the case when he 

 says of both the South African and the New Zealand Peripatus 

 that " the development of the embryos, though going on all the 

 year round, commences at one particular season, so that all the 

 embryos found in the uterus of the female are approximately of 

 one age." (Studies from the Morph. Lab. Cambridge, Vol. iv. p. 

 215, 1889.) 



Of the Neotropical species, Sedgwick remarks : — " Embryos 

 of very different ages in same uterus, and births probably taking 

 place all the year round"; and of P. Edwardsii — "The uterus 

 contains embryos in all stages of development, and the young, 

 which are fully developed at birth, are presumably born at 

 different times of the year." (Monograph, pp. 184 and 190.) 



The Australian Peripatus with which I am familiar seems in 

 these matters to occupy an intermediate position between P. 

 capensis and the Neotropical species. If one cannot say of it 

 that it breeds all the year round, or that the uterus contains 

 embryos in all stages of development, still less can one definitely 

 particularise any single month as par excellence the breeding 

 season; or assert that embryos of approximately one age only are 

 to be found in pregnant specimens. And, so far as I can judge, 



