G2 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



predominant. In some cases, viz., the darkest 

 specimens, these patches are represented only by a 

 row of small, light coloured, yellow or red spots on 

 each side of the middle line. Each of these spots is 

 situate in the position of the apex of each triangular 

 half of one of the characteristic diamond-shaped 

 patches found in other specimens. 



(4) The ventral surface is lighter than the dorsal. 



(5) There is on the ventral surface a median row of spots 

 or areas usually paler than the rest of the surface, 

 placed one between the legs of each pair but the last. 



(6) At the base of each leg, around the aperture of the 

 nephridium, there is a dark patch of indigo blue. 



Whether or not the red colour of the eyes of the male will 

 prove to be a constant character, I am unable to say, as I 

 have only seen one male specimen as yet. 



It will be seen, by reference to Mr. SedgAvick's beautiful 

 illustrations, that the pattern on the ventral surface of 

 P. novce-zealandice is essentially the same as in P. leuckartii; 

 while on the dorsal surface it appears to be very different, 

 though the thin median light line is present in both species. 



Mr. Fletcher tells me that he is inclined to think that 

 the median dorsal white line (which is mentioned by Mr. 

 Sedgwick as occurring in the Australian species) is a post- 

 mortem character, due to imperfect preservation, as he 

 has recently examined three moderately well preserved 

 specimens from Queensland (probably from the same locality 

 as Mr. Sedgwick's examples), and these have a distinct 

 dorsal median dark line. Concerning his own Victorian 

 specimen, Mr. Fletcher also says, in one of his published 

 notes: — "A whitish median dorsal line visible in part of 

 the body only is evidently due to bleaching, though in the 

 rest of its course a nodose black line is not well defined." I 

 cannot agree with Mr. Fletcher's views on this point. I 

 have already pointed out that the white line is very thin, 

 and sometimes edged by a dark line on each side. The 

 white line might, I believe, be hidden by contraction 

 in spirit specimens, and the presence of the dark lines 

 edging it may account for the median dark line described 

 by Mr. Fletcher. 



