406 ARTHUR DENDY. 



little larger ; I have a specimen from Victoria, apparently 

 killed by drowning, which is about 15 ram. long. 



Discussion of Relationships. — The close relationship 

 which this species bears to the New Zealand 0. viridi- 

 maculatus has already been pointed out. It is obviously quite 

 distinct, as shown by the absence of the accessory tooth on 

 the outer jaw-blade, and by the presence of only fourteen 

 pairs of walking legs, both from 0. oviparus and from the 

 common New South Wales Peripatus, which I still term 

 P. Leuckartii. Since, however, it has been suggested with 

 some show of reason that my O. insignis may be really 

 Sanger's original P. Leuckartii, and as Mr. Fletcher (7) has 

 definitely adopted this view of the case, it becomes necessary 

 to briefly discuss the question of nomenclature. 



(1) As to the number of appendages in the original 

 P. Leuckartii we have no absolutely certain information, 

 for it appears that Leuckart and Sanger gave conflicting 

 accounts. Leuckart (1) first said there were " 16 Beinpaaren." 

 Mr. Fletcher observes, " But in regard to the Australian 

 Peripatus, it seems evident that Professor Leuckart inten- 

 tionally included the oral papillae among the sixteen pairs, 

 but without indicating the fact." 



Sanger, working apparently on the same specimen, states, 

 on the other hand, that there are "fifteen pairs of legs, one pair 

 without claws, fourteen with. This character is also found in 

 P. br evis, described b}^ Blanchard." ^ Mr. Fletcher interprets 

 this to mean that Sanger includes the oral papillse in the 

 fifteen pairs, and that the original P. Leuckartii had only 

 fourteen pairs of claw-bearing walking legs. I do not think 

 that this interpretation is necessary. Mr. Fletcher himself (7) 

 has recorded the occurrence of a specimen of the common 

 New South Wales Peripatus in which two pairs of legs had 

 the claws missing, and it was quite possible that Leuckart's 

 specimen was also abnormal in this respect (especially if it 

 had been subjected to much handling before coming into 



• I quote horn u translalion of Sanger's paper (1) with which Prof. 

 Spencer kindly furnished nie. 



