386 ARTHUR DENDY. 



ruptured chorion also still shows a portion of the character- 

 istic pattern on the outside. 



It appears, therefore, that the only egg yet known to hatch 

 out, did so after being laid for about seventeen months. 

 There is no reason, however, to believe that under natural 

 conditions the process of development takes as loug as .this, 

 and the apparently fully-formed embryo obtained at about 

 eight and a half months indicates a normally shorter period. 

 Development was possibly retarded by the eggs being kept 

 in a room which was unusually cool iu summer; probably, also, 

 conditions of moisture and the softening by decay of the 

 tough chorion, have a good deal to do with the date at which 

 the young animal escapes. 



e. Distribution and CEcology. 



The genus Ooperipatus, so far as we know at present, 

 is confined to the eastern portion of Australia (including 

 Tasmania for O. in sign is) and New Zealand, so that its 

 distribution forms a striking parallel to that of many 

 vegetable types, and may be similarly accounted for by 

 supposing it to have spread southwards at a time when New 

 Zealand was connected with North-eastern Australia, probably 

 not later than the cretaceous period. 0. oviparus has been 

 found in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, 

 0. viridimaculatus in the South and possibly also the 

 North Island of New Zealand, and 0. in sign is in Victoria 

 and Tasmania. 



Like other members of the group, the species are all 

 thoroughly cryptozoic, hiding away beneath stones or logs, or 

 in the crevices of decaying tree trunks. O. oviparus is 

 usually found beneath stones or fallen logs, either on the 

 ground, or attached to the under surface of the stone or log 

 which covers it. 0. viridimaculatus, on the other hand, 

 is, according to my experience, found in the interior of rotten 

 tree trunks, which have to be broken to pieces in order to 

 obtain speciinens, and I think the same will usually be found 



