474 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. VIII, 



stimulation that the specimens could be induced to perform the 

 action at all. The viscous fluid rapidly solidified and formed 

 long strings of a rubber-like consistency which adhered to every- 

 thing with which they came in contact. That they never stuck 

 to the animal itself was doubtless due to the special skin processes 

 which, in life, give it such a deep velvety appearance. 



We were never able to observe Peripatus feeding ; but insects 

 placed in the same box with it were afterwards found dead, in 

 nearly all cases overwhelmed by the viscous secretion and firmly 

 adherent to the earth with which the bottom of the box was 

 covered. 



When walking the antennae diverged and were held in the 

 same horizontal plane as the body with the tips flexed a little 

 outwards. Moving leisurely, the limbs of a single pair act in 

 unison, having an opposite motion to those of the pairs imme- 

 diately in front and behind : ttie claws of one pair almost touch 

 those of the adjacent pair at each step. When moving more 

 hurriedly the limbs of four or five adjacent pairs act together, 

 waves of contraction and expansion pass from behind forwards, 

 and a whole series of limbs is simultaneously lifted clear of 

 the ground, so that the body of the animal has an undulating 

 appearance and is only in contact with the ground in two or 

 three places. The species walks backwards with great facility, 

 employing the more rapid type of movement in so doing. 



The limbs of the first four or five pairs are rather irregular 

 in their motions. Those of the first pair are frequently held 

 clear of the ground and this is generally the case with those of 

 the last two pairs. At every step the claws are rapidly raised 

 upwards, so that their dorsal surface touches the side of the 

 limb. It seems that the pads are the most important organs in 

 ordinary locomotion, the claws being of little apparent use in 

 progression on a level surface. 



External Features. 

 Colour. 



Living specimens of adults were dorsally of a deep and rich 

 raw umber browfi colour, with the apices of the antennae for a 

 distance of about i mm. of a very pale brown tint. When fully 

 extended a small pale brown lenticular area situated dorso-lat- 

 erally at the base of each antenna is exposed and on close exa- 

 mination the tips of all the larger dorsal skin-papillae are seen to 

 be pale. The ventral surface, both of the body and its appen- 

 dages was wholly pale brown. 



In a few adults in which the dorsal colouration was some- 

 what lighter than that most usually met with, a very narrow 

 black mid- dorsal stripe was perceptible and in preserved speci- 

 mens, in which most of the original colour has disappeared ^ , this 

 is often a conspicuous feature. Microscopic examination shows 



1 The specimens have become quite pale after two years in alcohol. 



