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on the ipse dixit of Dr. Dendy himself is P. leuckartii, Sang.; the questions 

 at issue being not whether or no the Victorian Peripattis is oviparous, but 

 whether, firstly, Dr. Dendy was justified, on the evidence before him and 

 in the absence of any personal knowledge of the reproduction of the N.S.W. 

 Peripattis , in contradicting statements which were quite in order ; and se- 

 condly, as Dr. Dendy' s views were published in September, 1891, and as 

 certain information on the subject was subsequently brought under his no- 

 tice, whether it is not now nearly time that Dr. Dendy took steps to ex- 

 plain that his views apply wholly and solely to the Victorian Peripatus, and 

 to withdraw his insinuations respecting, and his erroneous interpretation of, 

 »Mr. Fletcher's observations«, because already Dr. Dendy's statements 

 are finding their way into the records of zoological literature, and confusion 

 and misapprehension may result therefrom. The New South Wales Peripatus 

 is certainly viviparous, and this fact was known, and in course of publication, 

 at a period in the year 1888 when as yet Dr. Dendy had never seen a spe- 

 cimen of an Australian Peripattis. Of three living specimens of the N.S.W. 

 Peripatus exhibited at a meeting of this Society in June, 1888, one was gi- 

 ven early in July to Dr. Has well, who was anxious to examine the mus- 

 cles of Peripatus in the fresh condition , and a few days afterwards he repor- 

 ted that she was pregnant or contained embryos ; and on the strength of 

 this statement a foot-note , » One of these [three specimens exhibited] was 

 subsequently dissected , and found to be pregnantct , was appended to the 

 notice of the exhibit as it appeared in the Proceedings (Vol. III., 2nd ser.. 

 Part. IL, p. 892 — published September 10th); Dr. Haswell mounted 

 one of the embryos, and it has been in the writer's possession since on or 

 about October 27th, 1888. A second female made good her escape. The 

 third was kept, and in due course she brought forth her young ; these were 

 exhibited at a meeting of this Society on October 27th, and as it was known 

 that another female of the same batch, got at the same place and at the 

 same time , had been found , when dissected in July previous , to contain 

 embryos with the full number of developing appendages present, and as 

 nothing was seen of eggs which Dr. Dendy says are »easily seen, being 

 fairly large«, or even »very large«, the assertion was made that they were 

 born alive. Before this statement appeared in print a female obtained in 

 November, and drowned early in December, extruded during the process of 

 drowning five embryos much more advanced than those met with by Dr. 

 Haswell. Abundant confirmatory evidence has since been obtained and 

 from time to time laid before this Society. Therefore when Dr. Dendy says 

 that until he made his discovery nothing was known of the reproduction of 

 P. ktickartii (the N.S.W. Peripatus included) ; that »it appears also from Mr. 

 Fletcher's observations« (which have reference wholly and solely to a vi- 

 viparous creature), »with which it will be seen that my own« (having refe- 

 rence to a Peripattis which Dr. Dendy says is not viviparous) »fit in very 

 well so far, that the young are hatched at the end of October«; with other 

 statements of an equally misleading character, one can only express the hope 

 that in his new role of our Biological Captain Cook , Dr. Dendy will in 

 future emulate his illustrious prototype not only in making many and great 

 discoveries in Eastern Australia, but also in such trivial matters as sound- 

 ness of judgment and accuracy of statement when the time comes to publish 

 an account of them. — 2) Jottings from the Biological Laboratory of Sydney 



