426 J. K. WARD ON PERIPATUS MOSELEYI. 



communications upon the subject will be interesting to the 

 naturalists amongst us, I have ventured — with permission — to 

 place these notes upon the record of our proceedings. 



On January 4th of the present year a living Peripatus was 

 received from Enon bush, about eight miles from Richmond. My 

 daughter, who happened to be spending her summer holiday with 

 friends in that town, sent me some description of it at the time ; 

 and in a letter to me dated a few days later, Mr. Ward remarked, 

 " Miss Lewis called here yesterday, not to see me, but to see 

 a living Peripatus Moseleyi, in which she seemed particularly 

 interested." This specimen was reported alive and well at the 

 end of the month ; and on February 1st, being at the house of 

 the person from whom it had originally been received, Mr. Ward, 

 accompanied by his friend's daughter as guide, made a further 

 search in the adjoining bush, and had the pleasure of finding 

 three more adults — one under the damp bark of a fallen and 

 rotting tree, and the others in some mixed soil and decaying wood 

 covered by a bunch of the common tree orchid. These were 

 subsequently placed in a box with the one captured in January ; 

 and three others found about ten days later were put into another 

 box, one of the latter being rather larger than the others and of 

 a deep yellow colour. The boxes referred to were about 14" x 9", 

 and great care was taken, in preparing them for their inmates, 

 to imitate as closely as possible the conditions under which these 

 creatures naturally live. The bottom of the box was first covered 

 with a layer of rotten wood, crushed small and mixed with a little 

 earth, pressed down compactly to form a floor which, whilst not 

 loose enough for the animals to hide in, would absorb and retain 

 the absolutely necessary moisture. On this floor some pieces of 

 bark and moss were so arranged as to form hiding-places which 

 would not readily collapse, and over all were placed some larger 

 pieces of bark, which were useful in excluding excess of light, 

 assisting to keep in the moisture and harbouring the numerous 

 small insects usually found amidst such surroundings. By 

 keeping the floor and contents of the boxes constantly damp, but 

 not too wet, and being careful not to disturb the bark unneces- 

 sarily, the Peripati seemed quite comfortable, and soon made 

 themselves at home, frequently lying coiled up together in a 

 group when not walking about in search of food. During the 

 hot damp days of February, when small insects were abundant, 



