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Notes on Peripatus Moseleyi. 



By the Rev. J. R. Ward, of Richmond, Natal. 



Communicated by R. T. Lewis, F.R.M.S. 



{Read October 15th, 1897.) 



In the early part of December 1895 I received from my 

 valued correspondent the Rev. J. R. Ward, of Richmond, Natal, 

 a letter which began as follows : — 



" I am sending you a caterpillar in glycerine, which I hope 

 you will be able to get me some information about. It is rarely 

 seen, is found in the bush, and is said to squirt when annoyed ; 

 but I do not see how this can be. I should like to know, for the 

 friend who gave it me, what it turns into." 



The " caterpillar " thus referred to fortunately came to hand 

 safely and in good condition, and proved on examination to be 

 an object of very exceptional interest. It was about two inches 

 long, the dorsal and lateral surfaces were olive green in colour, 

 and the ventral portions chrome orange, the entire cuticle being 

 covered with minute papillae which gave it a soft velvety appear- 

 ance. Its head was furnished with a pair of antennae about 

 | inch long, composed of many rings ; there were two well 

 developed simple eyes, a mouth apparently capable of cutting, 

 tearing and sucking, twenty-one pairs of legs, each ringed and 

 studded with papillae, and terminating in a jointed retractile foot 

 bearing two claws. There also appeared to be an anal orifice at 

 the posterior extremity and a generative opening between the 

 hindmost pair of legs. 



Clearly this was no caterpillar in the ordinary acceptation of 

 the term ; it was not a larval form, it could not be an annelid, 

 and in some very essential points it differed from a myriopod. 

 This was, in fact, my first personal introduction to Perijxitus, a 

 creature so remarkable that a new class — Prototracheata — had to 

 be created for the sole occupancy of its single genus. 



As a detailed description of the structure of Peripatus by Mr. 

 Adam Sedgwick, illustrated by fourteen figures and a map of 



