ON THE OVIPAROUS SPECIES OP ONYCHOPHORA. 393 



arch ; the wrinkles in the skin became more complicated, 

 then interrupted on the dorsal median line; and lastly, the 

 dentiform armature of the jaws underwent successive re- 

 duction." 



In accordance with these views, it is obvious that in most 

 respects the genus Ooperipatus is by no means primitive, 

 but it by no means follows that it may not, all the same, 

 have preserved a primitive oviparous habit which has been 

 lost in other forms. It is a singular coincidence that the 

 only egg-laying Mammalia which now exist are confined to 

 the same zoological region. 



In concluding this discussion, I may say that, personallj^, 

 I am strongly inclined to believe that the ancestors of at 

 any rate all the Australasian Onychophora were oviparous, 

 or, in other words, that Ooperipatus represents in this 

 respect the ancestral form of Peripatoides. It also seems 

 highly probable that the egg-laying habit was at one time 

 univei'sal throughout the group Onychophora, while the 

 formation of an elaborate sculptured chorion may possibly 

 be looked upon as another indication of relationship between 

 the Onychophora and the Insects. 



III. Description of Species and Synonymy. 



1. Ooperipatus oviparus, Dendy. (Figs. 1, 4 — 26.) 

 Synonymy. 



1887. ? Peripatus Leuckartii ("in all probability"), 



Fletcher. ' Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales,' vol. ii, 

 series 2, p. 450. 



1888. ? Peripatus Leuckartii, Sedgwick. 'Quarterly 



Journal of Microscopical Science,' vol. xxviii, p. 463. 



1889. (Probably new species,) Dendy. 'Nature,' vol. xxxix, 



p. 366. 

 1889. (Probably not new species,) Sedgwick. 'Nature,' 



vol. xxxix, p. 413. 

 1889. Peripatus Leuckartii, Dendy. 'Proc. Koyal Soc. 



Victoria,' vol. ii (new series), p. 51. 



