On the Ovlpar'iiy of PevipaUts leud'artii. 33 



in a beautiful and regular design, consisting of little crumpled 

 papillae, somewhat resembling worm-casts, arranged at fairly 

 regular intervals over the surface, and with much finer 

 meandering ridges occupying the spaces between them. 

 Such sculpturing is, as is well known, characteristic of 

 man}^ insect eggs, which renders it especially interesting in 

 view of the relationships of Peripatus. As it is not present 

 in intra-uterine* eggs, it must be formed as the egg passes 

 through the vagina, which is large and thick-walled. 



It thus appears that Peripatus leuckartii lays eggs in 

 July, or thereabouts ; and it appears also, from Mr. Fletcher's 

 observations, with which it wnll be seen that my own fit in 

 very well so far, that the .young, are hatched at the end of 

 October. As, however, I have also found large eggs in a 

 specimen captured and killed in December, I think it not 

 impossible that the animal may be double-brooded. 



The mode of reproduction in Peripatus leuckartii thus 

 seems to differ widely fi'om that known in any other species 

 of the genus, and to conform rather to the insect type. 

 Probably, considering the immense quantity of f(X)d-yolk 

 present, the development also differs widely ; this I hope to 

 be able to work out in time, bat the presence of so much 

 fluid and granular yolk, and of such a tough membrane, 

 will, I fear, render the task very difficult. 



It would be interesting to discover whether Peripatus 

 insif/nis, the only other known Australian species, is also 

 oviparous. The smaller size and much rarer occurrence 

 of this species, however, will render investigation more 

 difticult. 



Postscript. — On August 3Jst one of the female specimens 

 was found dead in the vivarium. I at once dissected it, and 

 found the reproductive organs very well develojied ; but, 

 although the ovary and oviducts were botli large (the former 

 containing a great many ovarian eggs), there was not a single 

 egg in either of the oviducts. Doubtless, all the eggs had 

 been laid. It is worth mentioning in this connection that 

 another female specimen found at Macedon in May last (at 

 the same time as the specimens which were placed in the 

 vivarium) was dissected a few days after being captured, 

 and was then found to contain no less than twelve large eggs 

 in the oviducts. 



* I have used the term " uterus " in accordance with the customary 

 nomenclature, it would probably be better to speak only of " oTiducts " in 

 Feripatus leuckartii.. 



D 



