276 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
plant growth—such is the setting in which the naturalist here 
finds himself. 
Before we left the University I had hoped to be able to secure 
for our collections some examples of that peculiar and aberrant, 
slug-like arthropod called Pertpatus. The time of our departure 
from New Zealand was but a few days away and still I had not 
captured any of the animals, although I had been informed that 
they were to be found in Wilton’s Bush. Here, then, was my last 
chance. So, armed with a heavy collecting knife, I began to at- 
tack the multitude of stumps and logs in an effort to discover the 
object of my search, Peripatus nove-zealandie. 
After some minutes, down within the damp, well-rotted interior 
of an old remu log, I uncovered a cylindrical, caterpillar-like, 
velvety-black creature an inch and a half in length—the long- 
sought Pertpatus. 
Peripatus has been known to zoologists for about one hundred 
years. Something like fifty species are known, principally from 
South America, Africa and the Australasian region. It has en- 
gaged the attention of scientists because it has seemed to be a 
sort of ‘‘missing link’’ between certain worms, on the one hand, 
and the air-breathing arthropods on the other. However, it may 
be nearer the truth to regard Peripatus as an offshoot—one of 
the lower branches—from the base of the arthropodan family tree. 
The skin of the New Zealand species is deeply pigmented above, 
and thickly spotted with reddish brown. It is not jointed but is 
thrown into a multitude of fine transverse wrinkles. Although 
abundantly supplied with legs, fifteen pairs in all, each of which 
is furnished with two claws, my find moved very slowly and 
deliberately with a kind of undulatory motion similar to that of 
a caterpillar. Neither the dark surroundings nor the nocturnal 
habits of Peripatus demand keen eyesight, and accordingly, it 
possesses but a single pair of simple eyes which are able to dis- 
tinguish only between light and darkness. 
Its acquaintance with the outer world is gained largely through 
impressions received by a pair of extremely sensitive antennae 
which are in constant motion. On the under side of the head the 
elongate-oval mouth is surrounded by a swollen lip which is raised 
into a series of conical papille. Within the mouth is a pair of 
horny jaws which assist in masticating the various kinds of animal 
matter which serve as food. 
Possibly the most striking external feature is exhibited when 
