196 DESCRIPTION OF PERIPATUS OVIPARUS, 



Peripatus OVIPARUS, n.sp. 



Peripatus huckartii (probably in all cases where this name has 

 hitherto been applied to specimens from Victoria with fifteen 

 pairs of claw-bearing legs, especially in earlier papers of the 

 present writer, but not where the name has been applied to 

 specimens from New South Wales). 



A good-sized female specimen, when crawling, measured 39 mm. 

 in length, exclusive of the antennae. Full-grown females preserved 

 in spirit and contracted in the usual manner (not extended l^y 

 drowning) measure about 20 mm. in length (exclusive of the 

 antennae) by 4*5 mm. in greatest breadth (exclusive of the legs). 

 The males seem to ])e commonly somewhat smaller than the adult 

 females, but the evidence at present forthcoming is not sufficient 

 to justify a generalization on this point. 



There are fifteen pairs of claw-bearing legs. Each leg has three 

 pale-coloured spinous pads on its ventral surface. On the fourth 

 and fifth legs the proximal and largest pad is divided transversely 

 into three parts, the median part being much the smallest and 

 bearing a white papilla. Each foot bears three large primary 

 papillse, one anterior, one posterior, and one dorsal, overhanging 

 the pair of claws. 



The jaws consist as usual each of two blades, the inner blade 

 has about vseven teeth and the outer one consists of a single well- 

 developed tooth with a very small accessory tooth at its base. 



The integument is as usual transversely furrowed, with rows of 

 papillae of varying size on the intervening ridges. Along the 

 mid-dorsal line there is a deep narrow groove; the integument 

 lining the floor of this groove is devoid of pigment and thus gives 

 rise to a very narrow median white line, which may be hidden by 

 contraction. 



The predominant colours of the skin are red and indigo blue, 

 the former passing into yellow and the latter into black in some 

 specimens. The characteristic pattern of the dorsal surface 

 consists chiefly in a series of segmentally arranged, diamond- 

 shaped patches in which the red colour is predominant. Each 



