3G8 ARTHUR DENDY. 



ovipositor.^ P. ovipaiuis and vi r idi macula t us certainly 

 lay eg-gs with thick sculptured shells. In P. insignis the 

 same habit may be inferred from the presence of the 

 ovipositor. 



It is this extremely intei'esting group of egg-laying species 

 which forms the subject of the present memoir. So far as I 

 know no figures have yet been published of any of these three 

 species, and it is this deficiency in particular which I wish to 

 make good. Inasmuch as they all three agree very closely 

 as regards internal anatomy with one another, and, with the 

 exception of the reproductive organs, with the already well- 

 known species of Peri pat us, I have not felt it necessary 

 to enter into details which would be merely repetition. It is 

 the female reproductive orgnns which are of chief interest, 

 and upon these attention has been mainly concentrated. 



I have to thank many kind correspondents both in 

 Australia and New Zealand for assistance in collecting- 

 material, and I am especially indebted to my friends Miss 

 Ferrar, of Christchurch, New Zealand, and Mr. C. C. 

 Brittlebank, of Myrniong, Victoria, for the large amount of 

 trouble which they have taken in order to satisfy my desire 

 to have coloured drawings of the three species. 



II. The Genus Ooperipatus, Dendy (19). 



a. Diagnosis. 



Oviparous Onychophora. Eggs with thick sculptured 

 chorion. Genital aperture in the female at the end of a 

 prominent ovipositor Avhich lies between the legs of the last 

 pair ; in the male the aperture is only slightly prominent 

 between the legs of the last pair. Male with crural glands. 

 Legs with three spinous pads. Transverse ridges of the 



' It seems probable tliat tlie female from Queensland described by 

 Sedgwick (2) as P. Leuckaitii was really a specimen of Ooperipatus 

 oviparus, for Sedgwick says " the genital papilla of the female is remarkably 

 prominent, and bears at its free end a longitudinally disposed slit." 



