3G6 Capt. F. W. Hutton on Peripatus novse-zealandiae. 



cords consist of fine granular matter enclosed in a delicate 

 membranous sheath ; there is no appearance of nerve-fibres. 



Reproductive System. — I have dissected more than twenty 

 specimens of P. novce-zealandice^ and in every case found it 

 to be hermaphrodite. The female organs consist of a single 

 ovate ovary (PL XVII. fig. 8, a) lying above the stomach 

 opposite the eleventh and twelfth pairs of legs, and attached 

 superiorly to the muscular layer. From the narrow posterior 

 end proceeds an oviduct, which soon branches into two (fig. 8, 

 c) , one on each side : these pass anteriorly below the ovary, 

 and extend forward sometimes as far as the fourth pair of 

 legs ; they then bend backward, and after several foldings pass 

 below the nerve-cords and open together into a single vulva 

 (fig. 8,/'), situated on the ventral aspect, in front of the anus. 

 These oviducts are nearly twice the length of the animal, and 

 gradually enlarge towards the extremity : in their posterior 

 half they contain a large number of irregular, transverse, un- 

 dulating spiral fibres, exactly like the spiral fibres of the 

 tracheae, which gradually become less and less in ;iumber 

 anteriorly. The male organs consist of a pair of globular 

 testes (PI. XVil. fig. 8, h), from each of which two vasa de- 

 ferentia pass into each oviduct a short distance from the ovary ; 

 these testes are formed of large cells. The spermatozoa are 

 developed only in the central part of the testes. They are 

 filiform, tapering to each end ; length "0025, breadth at middle 

 •00008 inch. Their movements are very slow and sluggish, 

 and soon cease, and are probably hygroscopic. Their deve- 

 lopment was not seen ; but they certainly become free in the 

 testis. Opposite the entrance of the vasa deferentia, and for 

 a short distance above and below them, the oviduct expands 

 into a series of short cseca, which perform the function of vesi- 

 culse seminales. These cseca also secrete numerous spherical 

 cells, about "0008 inch in diameter, full of granular matter, 

 which fill the oviduct below them. 



Development. — Peripatus is viviparous, and development 

 takes place entirely in the oviducts. The number of embryos 

 in different individuals, or in the two oviducts of the same 

 individual, varies. In one case I counted eighteen embryos 

 in the right oviduct, and eight in the left ; in another case 

 there were two embryos, symmetrically placed, in each oviduct. 

 When the embryos are numerous, there is always a consider- 

 able difference in the point of development to which they have 

 attained ; but the early stages are rapidly passed through. The 

 ova are developed on the interior of the ovary. They are at 

 first spherical and about '0006 inch in diameter. As they in- 

 crease in size they get ovoid in shape, and the contents become 



