PERIPATUS. 39 



The generative orifice is situated between the penultimate 

 pair of legs and has the form of a cross-shaped fissure 

 between four papillae. The anus is placed between the last 

 pair of legs ; it is not quite terminal , the end of the body 

 somewhat projecting beyond them (fig. 4). 



The colour of the body is dark , blackish brown , the 

 ventral side paler , greyish ; there is a dark line along the 

 middle of the back , produced by the above mentioned groove. 

 Some small white spots are scattered over the dorsal sur- 

 face, but they seem only to be produced by the loosening 

 of the cuticle from the top of the papillae. 



Though our specimen differs from all the known species 

 of Peripatus by the number of its legs (24), it is difficult 

 to state if it really represents a new species , because that 

 number seems not always to be quite constant; moreover 

 I wanted almost entirely the material for comparison , and 

 the descriptions of the greater part of the dozen mentioned 

 species are too short and vague, to distinguish them suffi- 

 ciently. We hope that the announced Monograph of Moseley 

 and Sedgwick on ))the species of Peripatus''' vdll soon clear 

 up this matter. 



The only species we know very well to day , owing to 

 the careful investigations of Grube '), Moseley^), Balfour 3), 

 Gaff'ron ^), Kennel ^), Hutton ^), a.o., are: P. capensis Gr., P. 

 Edwardsii Blanch, and P. Novae- Zealandiae Hutt. Through 

 the kindness of my friend Prof. Max Weber I have been 

 able to examine a specimen of the last mentioned species. 



P. Novae- Zealandiae differs from our Sumatra-specimen 

 not only by having 15 pairs of legs, but also by its habit being 

 quite different, more slender, not unlike that of a cater- 

 pillar. The specimen measures 35 m. m. Its colour, corres- 



1) Archiv f. Anat. und Physiol. 1853, p. 322. 



2) Phil. Transact. Royal Soc. of London . 1874 , p. 767. 



3) loc. cit. 



4) Zoolog. Beitrage von A. Schneider, Bd. I, 1883, p. 33. 



5) Arbeiteu Zool. Zoot. Institut in Würzburg, Bd. VII, 1885, p. 95. 



6) Ann. a. Mag. Nat Hist. 1876, p. 361. 



Notes from the Ley den IVIuseuxxi , Vol. 'VIII. 



