FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB. 45 



gallery in which he was taking his siesta and so gained the roof 

 where it disappeared in the thatch. It had not been there long 

 before .sundry squeals and rustlings betrayed the fact that the 

 tigre had good reasons for visiting the house. He had secured a 

 rat. After swallowing it he descended to the ground again and 

 made off to his retreat in the long grass, or what is more prob- 

 able, disappeared in it en route to his home in some tree near-by, 

 for the tigre is essentially a tree snake. The shower was by this 

 time over and we again sallied forth and presently found another 

 parasol ants' nest. We began digging with our cutlasses and the 

 second clod of earth removed revealed a prize which was worth 

 coming all the way to Caparo for, even if we got nothing else, a 

 peripatus,* about two and a half inches long. Unfortunately it 

 had been slightly bruised but nevertheless was exceedingly 

 acceptable. A closer search gave us a smaller one which was 

 also bagged amid considerable excitement. The discovery of 

 these interesting creatures was quite unexpected in such a locality 

 as the purlieus of an ants' nest and though we had turned over 

 loos by the dozen that morning without success we never imagined 

 for a moment we should get peripati in such a situation. Many 

 persons perhaps do not know what a peripatus is. It is an 

 animal in shape and in the number of its legs very much like ;t 

 millepede, or, as it is popularly known here "conger-ee," hut it is 

 destitute of the ring-like armour which is so striking a chara 

 istic of the " conger-ee. : ' Its brown, naked, skin isoften adorned 

 with a bright stripe or a pretty mottled pattern. It is able to 

 contract or extend its length in a wonderfully elastic fashion. 

 From its head it puts out a couple of feelers, like a snail does iis 

 "horns." From ducts at the base of these feelers it exudes, at will, 

 a glutinous substance and woe be to the unfortunate wood-louse or 

 other creature which permits the peripatus to touch him with it. 

 He is bound as firmly as ever insect was in spider's web, and the 

 peripatus devours him forthwith. The habits of these creatures 

 ery little known and they secrete themselves so well that 

 they are rarely found. They are often passed overas being slugs. 

 One or two species are known to be indigenous to Trinidad, but 

 either of them is arora avis, albeil certain. members of this Club 

 and outsiders too, are constantly looking for them. Another 

 curious point about certain species of peripatus is thai they are 

 supposed to be hermaphrodite and are able to indi\ [dually and in- 

 dependently perpetuate their kind. A prolonged examination 

 did not give us any more specimens, but resulted in the finding of 

 another large an! of the kind previously described. Wandering 

 on we came to the extreme boundary of the cultivated 



* Peripatus trinkladensis, Sedgw. 



