Observations on the Australian Species of Perlpatus. 55 



Mr. Sedgwick's views as to the specific identity of all the 

 Australian specimens. 



Habitat of Peripatus leuckartii. 



The animal is generally found beneath either stones 

 or logs — either in open places, or in sheltered ones, such 

 as gullies. They appear to be more frequently met 

 with under stones than in any other situation. The 

 first Victorian specimen was found either in or under a 

 rotten log at WarraOTl, and the two which I found were 

 both under logs, in a fern-tree gully at Warburton. The 

 animals obtained by Messrs. Nye and Avery were, however, 

 nearly all found under stones, and those gentlemen have 

 kindly furnished me with the following note concerning the 

 habitat of their specimens: — 



" Whilst out on an expedition at Brown Hill in the vicinity 

 of Ballarat, in turning over some large silurian stones, we 

 found a Perlpatus beneath one sunk an inch or so into the 

 earth. On subsequent expeditions, we found ten mere — nine 

 of them beneath silurian stones — some under large, and some 

 under small stones, some being sunk in moss and grass, and some 

 lying in bare spots almost devoid of vegetation. The greater 

 part of the range where the Perlpatl were found is bare, 

 and covered with silurian sandstone ; further on, it becomes 

 covered with scrubby gum trees, about six to ten feet high, 

 and over-grown with mosses and lichens. Here we found 

 only two. 



All these Peripatl were found beneath silurian, and 

 though quartz and granite were plentiful, in no case did we 

 find any beneath them. Sometimes the Peripatl were 

 beneath the stones, sometimes clingino- to them, and again, 

 m the rubbish around them. 



" In one case only did we find two beneath the same stone, 

 and they were small ones. The blue and bluish-brown ones 

 were found in a spot covered with more vegetation and 

 bracken. 



" We searched the foot of this range for about a mile and 

 a half here, and then proceeded a couple of miles furtlier along 

 to a part better timbered. Here we found two — one beneath 

 a decaying log, and the other beneath a silurian stone in 

 an open spot. There were few fallen logs, so we had little 

 chance to look for Peripatl beneath them. 



" The range is about three miles N.E. of Ballarat, and 

 runs about east and west, so that the Perlpati were found 



