32 Froeeediuf/s of the Royal ^Society of Victoria. 



a manner as to recall the eggs of some insects. This 

 sculpturing alone a))pears to me to indicate a truly ovipai'ous 

 habit, and, inasnmch as it affords anotiier character common 

 to Ferlpatiin and tlie Jnsecta, to deserve special attention. 

 I am not aware that a sculptured egg-shell has hitherto been 

 observed in Feripatus and 1 should be glad to learn from Mr. 

 Fletcher whether anything of the kind has ever been found 

 around embryos of the New South Wales species which have, 

 as he informs us,* been extruded in the process of drowning. 



The additional evidence on the subject which I now wish 

 to bring forward consists in the subsequent history of the 

 fourteen eggs which were laid in my vivarium between the 

 18th May and the 31st July last year and of one which, 

 though possibly laid about the same time, was not discovered 

 until September 16. Before going any further, however, I 

 may premise that the fact that the eggs are really those of 

 Feripatu.s has been absolutely i)r()ved by their development. 

 It may also be as well to relate the fate of the parent animals 

 by which the eggs were laid. 



It may be remembered that on the 3 1st July, 1S!>1, when 

 the eggs were lirst found, there were in the vivarium three 

 females and one male, all apparently in good health. The 

 male specimen died shortly afterwards but on August 17th 

 the females were still all alive and apparently healthy. On 

 August 31st, as mentioned in a postcript to my first 

 communication on the subject, one of the female specimens 

 was found dead. On being dissected the reproductive 

 organs appeared very well developed ; but, although the 

 ovary and oviducts were both large (the former containing a 

 great many ovarian eggs), there was not a single egg in 

 either of the oviducts, all having been doubtless laid. 



On September IGth the two i-emaining females wo'e still 

 alive. I killed and dissected one. The organs appeared 

 healthy and well developed. In the lower part of each 

 oviduct one large egg was found. The eggs presented the 

 usual characters, having a very thick but unsculptured 

 envelope filled with yolk. Both eggs were cut open and 

 examined microscopically, but I did not succeed in recog- 

 nising any trace of an embrj^o in either. 



On completely turning out the vivarium and examining 

 its contents carefully, I found one more Feripatus egg 



* Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., Sej.tember 30, 1891. 



