428 J. R. WARD ON PERIPATUS MOSELEYI. 



seems worth noting, — those of the smaller female, referred to as 

 being found on January 4th, measured as much as § inch when 

 not more than twelve hours old, and when lying at rest ; whilst 

 walking, they were of course much longer. The power of the 

 full-grown animals to eject slime at any offending object was 

 frequently put to the test. Upon being teased or menaced the 

 head was at once turned towards the offender and a shot fired 

 with great accuracy and considerable force, in some instances 

 to as" great a distance as two feet. Mr. Ward mentioned that, 

 though his fingers had been struck at six or eight inches, he had 

 not himself seen so long a shot as above stated ; but his friend 

 Mr. Gordon, from whom the earlier specimens were received, had 

 himself seen this feat accomplished. This slimy or viscous fluid 

 is secreted by large glands and stored for use in reservoirs at the 

 bases of the oral papillae, through which it is discharged at will 

 by the sudden contraction of the surrounding muscular tissue. 

 Though mainly used for defensive purposes, it is stated on good 

 authority that the New Zealand species, when foraging, has been 

 seen to shoot down distant insects by this means ; and although 

 the fluid itself does not appear to be either poisonous or irritant 

 in its chemical composition, it would undoubtedly prove as 

 troublesome as birdlime to any small creature upon whose wings 

 or legs it chanced to fall. A drop happening in the course of its 

 flight to touch a piece of moss, was observed to be drawn out into 

 a long beaded thread very similar to one of the adhesive threads 

 of the web of a garden spider. 



The value of a record of any personal observations in matters 

 of natural history has always been so fully recognised at the 

 meetings of the Quekett Club, that I need hardly apologise for 

 the attempt to preserve those which form the substance of the 

 foregoing notes. Any member who may be desirous of learning 

 something more as to the microscopical structure of Perijxitus 

 than is given in the "Cambridge Natural History" already re- 

 ferred to, will find the subject more fully dealt with in a memoir 

 by the late Professor F. M. Balfour, edited by Professor H. N. 

 Moseley and Mr. Adam Sedgwick, published in the Quarterly 

 Journal of Microscopical Science, vol. xxiii., pp. 213-59, and 

 illustrated by eight beautifully executed plates. 



