366 ARTHUR DENDY. 



"The diagnosis commences: 'Found in New Holland, 

 north-west from Sydney. Fifteen pairs of legs — one pair 

 without claws^ fourteen with.^ If this be correct, then the 

 common Australian species usually accepted as P. Leuckartii 

 is certainly not the species described by Sanger under that 

 name, for I can certify that it has fifteen pairs of legs, all of 

 which bear claws. There appear to me to be two possibilities 

 in the case : (1) Sanger has failed to observe the claws on 

 one of the pairs of legs, or (2) there were really only foui'teen 

 pairs of claw-bearing legs in his specimen, and he counted the 

 oral papillas as a pair without claws. It is difficult to say 

 which of these alternatives is more likely to be correct, but 

 it seems just possible that ni}^ P. insignis may be the real 

 Leuckartii, with only fourteen pairs of claw-bearing legs. 

 The only way to settle the question definitely would be by 

 an appeal to Sanger's original specimen, which is stated to 

 have been in the possession of Pi'ofessor Leuckart." 



Up to the present time no such appeal to Sanger's original 

 specimen has, so far as I am aware, been made. 



After my address was written, when passing through Sydney 

 I called upon Mr. Fletcher and discussed the question of nomen- 

 clature with him, and found that he had independently arrived 

 at conclusions similar to those contained in my manuscript. 

 It was then arranged that we should eacli contribute a paper 

 on the subject at the next meeting of the Linnean Society of 

 New South Wales, and that in my contribution I should 

 confine myself to the egg-laying species of Victoria, which 

 we agreed should receive a name. My description of P. 

 oviparus (16) was published in accordance with the above 

 arrangement. 



Before finishing his paper on the subject (7), however, Mr. 

 Fletcher received specimens from Western Australia which 

 caused him to modify his views; and, after a lengthy discussion, 

 he comes to the conclusion that the most satisfactory arrange- 

 ment would be to consider all known Australian specimens of 

 Peripatus as i-eferable to one comprehensive species with 

 four varieties, viz. : 



