1914.] S. Kemp : Onychophora. 401 



Peripat'us, according to the former author, EopcripaUis, according 

 to the latter, comprising the least modified known species In 

 effect, Bouvier maintains that the heavily-yolked eggs found in 

 Eoperipatus and in Peripatoides are examples of convergence and 

 for the discrimination of the " families " relies on other characters 

 which at first sight seem less important. 



Although it appears at present that the points in which the 

 AbQr and Malaysian genera show affinity with the neotropical 

 species outweigh the characters which might be adduced as evi- 

 dence of relationship with any other genus, it is possible that 

 future research may indicate that a preponderant value should be 

 assigned to characters based on development and in this respect 

 the widest differences exist between the neotropical species and 

 those found in the Abor country and Malaysia. In this event the 

 possibility of relationship with the Australasian forms cannot be 

 overlooked. Peripatoides, in the manner of its development, shows 

 a close resemblance to Eoperipatus and Typhloperipatus and also 

 agrees with them in many important anatomical details. 



It is interesting to note that a line of migration such as would 

 be implied in this last view is not altogether without support 

 when the known distribution of other groups of animals is consi- 

 dered. Michaelsen ' has shown that certain genera of Megascolecid 

 Oligochaetes are found in New Zealand and India and not, appar- 

 ently, elsewhere and that abundant evidence exists in this group 

 of a faunistic connection between Australia and New Zealand on 

 the one hand and India and Ceylon on the other. Another in- 

 stance of this connection is afforded by the small freshwater 

 prawn, Xiphocaridina curvirostris (Heller), which is at present 

 known only from N.-E. Assam and from New Zealand*. Xipho- 

 caridina belongs to the Atyidae, and is one of the most primitive 

 genera in a family whose ancestral characters have long been 

 recognized. 



On the other hand there is a large body of evidence in favour 

 of a faunistic connection between India and the neotropical region, 

 traced in most cases, so far as land and freshwater forms are 

 concerned, by way of tropical Africa. As instances of this the 

 Aetheriidae among freshwater Lamellibranchs'^, the Cichlidae or 

 Chromides in freshwater fish * and the Caecilians^ may be cited. 



It seems then that the existence of lines of migration between 

 India and Australasia on the one hand and between India and the 

 neotropical region, via Africa, on the other hand is in some 

 measure established. From a geographical point of view it would 

 therefore be possible that Eoperipatus and Typhloperipatus might 



' Michaelsen, Mem. Ind. Mus., I, pp. 118-129 ( iqoq) and Abhnndl. \atiir- 

 wiss. Verein Hamburg-, XIX, 5, pp. 21-26 i^igioj. 



'^ Kemp, Rec. Ind. Mus., VII, p. 113 (1912). 



3 See Annandale, "The African Element in the Freshwater F"auna of British 

 India," IX Congres Internat. Zool., Monaco, 1913, p. 583 (1914^- 



* Gunther, " Introd. to Study of Fishes," p. 534 (1880). 



6 Alcock, "Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7)," XIV, p. 267 (1904). 



