DISTRIBUTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF ONYCHOPHORA. 383 
(1) The species of the neotropical region except Chili— 
Neo-Peripatus. 
(2) The species from tropical Africa—Congo-Peripatus. 
(3) a sas Malaya—Eo-Peripatus. 
(4) i a South Africa—Capo-Peripatus. 
(5) BS a New Britain—Melano-Peripatus. 
(6) MH Australasia—Austro-Peripatus. 
(7) . 5 Chili—Chilio-Peripatus. 
I shall now attempt to show that the species of each of 
these groups are distinct from those of the others, and that if 
generic names are to be given, they must follow the lines of 
geographical cleavage. M. Bouvier does not accept them all. 
He associates Congo-Peripatus with Neo-Peripatus, and 
Chilio-Peripatus with that section of Capo-Peripatus, to 
which Purcell has given the generic name of Opisthopatus. 
But, as I shall endeavour to show in the sequel, the genus 
Opisthopatus cannot be maintained, and the Congo-P eri- 
patus and Chilio-Per ipatus are as aicunet as any of the 
other groups. 
I will begin by examining each group in detail, both from 
a morphological and distributional point of view, and then we 
shall. be in a position to institute a detailed comparison 
between them. 
NEO-PERIPATUS.—Peripatus is generally distributed in 
the neotropical region from Rio de Janiero in the south to 
Mexico in the north, and it is found in many of the West 
Indian Islands. West of the Andes its southern limit appears 
to be Bolivia. All the species in this area belong to the 
group Neo-Peripatus. A single species (P. blainvillei) 
is known from Chili (Chiloe and near Villa Rica), but this 
Bouvier has shown to belong to a distinct type. The cha- 
racters of Neo-Peripatus, of which twenty-nine species are 
known, are as follows: 
1. The number of legs (twenty-three to forty-three pairs) 
is variable in the same species. 
