TWO NEW SPECIKS OF ONYCHOPHORA. 475 



three groups, uamely, the Neotropical, the Australasian, and 

 the Ethiopian. Dr. Willey, in correspondence with this 

 nomenclature, states that the New Britain form may be 

 designated Melanesian (18). M. Bouvier has already shown 

 that such a gi^ouping of the Peripatidte has no foundation 

 in fact (4). The discovery in the Malay peninsula o£ a 

 number of species wdiich, as above mentioned, agree with 

 Neotropical forms in almost all their most important charac- 

 ters, will effectually dispose of the above supposition. 



Conditions under which Peripatus was obtained 

 in the Malay Peninsula. — The material at my disposal 

 consisted of thirteen specimens, six males and seven females. 

 I obtained my first specimen on the 5th, and the second on 

 the 6th, of May, 1899. We were then camping on the side 

 of a mountain 3300 feet high, the position of our camp being 

 about 2250 feet above sea level. The mountain in question 

 is designated Bukit besai*, in the native tongue, and is 

 situated on the boundary line between the States of Nawng- 

 chick and Jalor, a full day's journey from the town of 

 Patani. The first specimen was brought me by a Malay, who 

 carried it between the prongs of a split stick. When I took 

 hold of the stick and began to handle the animal between 

 its prongs, it suddenly squirted a whitish, sticky slime to a 

 distance of fully eighteen inches. My hands were covered 

 with it, and though it did not stick to the body of the 

 animal itself, I oidy succeeded in getting it off with a consider- 

 able amount of difficulty. This slime, though fluid when 

 first squirted out, solidifies almost immediately. When in a 

 semi-solid state it can be drawn out in threads, much in the 

 same way as the juice of the rubber tree. The natives, when 

 they saw the slime being squirted, were much frightened. 

 This whitish secretion is considered to be poisonous, and 

 accounts for the manner in which they brought me the 

 animal. 



We had, unfortunately, arranged to leave Bukit besar 

 next morning. It Avas, however, agreed among the members 

 of the expedition that I should spend the day on the moun- 



