138 CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 



females. The females are viviparous, and the process of 

 development of the young shows that the horny jaws of the 

 animal are the slightly modified claws of a pair of limbs turned 

 inwards over the mouth as development proceeds ; in fact, 

 " foot-jaws," as in other Arthropods. 



Before I studied Peripatiis at the Cape, nothing was known 

 of its manner of development, nor of the fact that it breathed 

 air by means of tracheae. It was generally placed with the 

 Annelids, though its alliance with the Myriapods had been 

 suspected by Quatrefages. 



That Peripatiis is a very ancient form is proved by its wide 

 and peculiar distribution. Species of the genus occur at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, in Australia, in New Zealand, in Chili, in 

 the Isthmus of Panama and its neighbourhood, and in the 

 West Indies. If its horny jaws were only larger they would no 

 doubt be found fossil in strata as old as the Old Red Sand- 

 stone at least. 



The animal is provided with large glands, which secrete a 

 clear viscid fluid, which it has the power of ejecting from 

 two papillte, placed one on either side of the mouth. When 

 touched or irritated, it discharges this fluid, with great force 

 and rapidity, in fine thread-like jets, which form a sort of net- 

 work in front of it. The net looks like a spider's web with 

 the dew upon it, and appears as if by magic, so instantaneously 

 is it emitted. 



The viscid substance, which is not irritant when placed on 

 the tongue, is excessively tenacious, like bird-lime, and when I 

 put some on a slip of glass, some flies approaching it were at 

 once caught and held fast. It appears from the observations 

 of Captain Hutton on the New Zealand species,* that the jet 

 of slime is used by the animal not only as a means of offence, 

 but to catch insects, on which it feeds. 



I found only vegetable matter in the stomachs of the Cape 

 Peripatus, and concluded that it was a vegetable feeder. The 

 Cape species live in or under dead wood, and I found nearly 

 all my specimens at Wynberg, in Mr. Maynard's garden, in 

 decayed fallen willow logs, which were in the condition of 

 touchwood. I tore the logs to pieces, and found the animals 

 curled up inside. 



They are very local, and not by any means abundant, so 

 that an offer of half-a-crown for a specimen to boys did not pro- 

 duce a single example. My colleague, the late Von Willemoes 

 Suhm, and I both searched hard for Peripatiis. He was un- 

 successful ; but I was lucky enough to be the first to find a fine 



* Capt. F. W. Hutton, "On Peripatus Novae Zealandix'." Ann. and 

 Mag. Nat. Hist., 1876, p. 362. 



