BY THOS. STEEL. 99 



it would appear very probable to me that the young are not born 

 until the mother is at least three years old. 



In life bath blades of the jaws lie with their convex edges out- 

 wards, the outer simple bladed jaw lying close up to the inner 

 toothed one, with the points close together. When feeding the 

 jaws are moved very rapidly, with a circular sweep. 



I have counted the claw-bearing legs of several hundreds of 

 specimens, and have found them invariably fifteen pairs, ex- 

 clusive of the oral papilhe. In living individuals the narrow 

 white line in the centre of the dor.so-median furrow, described by 

 Prof. Dendy in P. ovipctrns,* and by Mr. Fletcher in P. Leioc- 

 kartijj is very readily seen under the microscope in the dark 

 coloured specimens, and can be distinctly observed in the light 

 brown ones also, especially when it crosses patches of the darker 

 brown. In young ones it is even more conspicuous than in adults. 

 In adults a somewhat similar line lies at the bottom of the 

 numerous horizontal skin furrows which cross the median line, 

 and indeed wherever there is a furrow in the skin its course is 

 more or less distinctly marked out by white. 



These lines are well seen when the animal is extended in the 

 act of crawling, but when it is at rest they are closed over by the 

 skin folds. 



The food of Peripatus consists of insects, wood lice, and such- 

 like. Termites are a favourite article of diet, and are eaten 

 freely. All the soft parts are eaten, including the legs of small 

 insects. The skin of the outer integument of such creatures as 

 wood lice is scraped completely off. Its feeding, as one might 

 expect from the nature of its jaws, is by no means confined to 

 sucking the juices of its prey, but all parts, save the hard integu- 

 ment, are devoured. Of Termites only the hard part of the head 

 is rejected, the remainder, including the antennte, being entirely 

 eaten. 



P.L.S.N.S.W. (2 Ser.) x. 19r;. 

 + Ibid. 1S3. 



