XVI. PRELIMINARY NOTE ON A NEW 



GENUS OF ONYCHOPHORA FROM 



THE N. E. FRONTIER OF INDIA. 



By Stanley Kemp, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Museum. 



The discovery of a species of Peripatus in the Abor country 

 during the military expedition of IQII-12 is of interest in that it is 

 the first occasion on which a member of the group has been found 

 within the limits of the Indian Empire. The form proves to 

 belong to a genus and species hitherto undescribed and, inasmuch 

 as some time must still elapse before the complete account can 

 be published,' I have thought it advisable to give a brief prelim- 

 inary account of its more important characters. 



The main features of the different geographical groups or 

 genera of Onychophora have been clearly stated by the late Prof. 

 Sedgwick/ and in the preparation of this note I have followed the 

 lines which he has ado])ted in his definitions. 



Typhloperipatus williamsoni, gen. et sp. nov. 



The species is blind and on external examination no trace of 

 the eyes can be found The ocular lobe is well developed but is 

 provided with a rudimentary nerve, A loosely compacted 

 irregular and non-cellular structure found within the lobe appears 

 to represent the remains of retinal rods, but no trace of any other 

 visual structure remains. 



The legs vary in number from 19 to 20 ; in adult specimens 

 there seem to be invariably 19 in the male and 20 in the female. 



The outer jaw is provided with two, less commonly with three 

 minor teeth ; the inner has three minor teeth and a series of eight 

 or ten small denticles separated from the others by a short 

 diastema. 



The legs have four spinous pads and in the fourth and fifth 

 pairs the nephridial openings are situated on the third pad. The 

 feet bear two distal papillae, one anterior and one posterior. 



The genital opening, in both sexes, is situated between the 

 legs of the penultimate pair. 



In the female the ovaries are fused, but there does not appear 

 to be any communication between the oviducts. Receptacula 

 ovorum do not appear to exist, but large receptacula seminis are 

 present, each communicating with the oviduct by means of two 



I A detailed description with figures will be published in Vol. VIII of the 

 Records of the Indian Museum. 



'2^ Sedgwick^ Quart. Journ. Microsc. Sci., LI I, p. 379 (1908 j. 



