Miscellaneous. 351 



b*. Tibia with 5-6 pairs of spines ; lobes of vulva 

 separated posteriorly by a prolongation of the 

 median sclerite ; eyes of ocular quadrangle much 

 less strongly recurved, inferior edge of posteriors 

 on a level with centre of auteriors Kraussn. 



The British Museum has examples of 8. radiatus, Latr. 

 ( = (eggptiacus, Aud.) from the following localities in Tropical 

 Africa: — E. Africa (Capt. Speke) ; Kinyamholo, Lake Tan- 

 ganyika (W. II. Nutt); Nyika plateau, Nyasaland, 6000- 

 7000 feet (//. H. Johnston). We also possess many examples 

 from the following localities : — Cape Verde Islands {Lieut. 

 Boger and F. O. P. Cambridge) ; Bushire (Karachi Mus.) ; 

 Bareilly, India (G. T. P. Cambridge) ; Dahanee, Thana 

 District (A. O. Edie) ; and Tharrawaddy (E. W. Oates). 

 The specimens from Tharrawaddy were described by Thorell 

 as S. birmanicus. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Geographical Distribution and the Evolution of Peripatus. 

 (Preliminary Note.) By E.-L. Boutier. 



The Onychophora are the terrestrial Articulata which approach 

 most nearly to the Annelids; zoologists are to-day unanimous in 

 considering them as very primitive animals, and, although their 

 remains are unknown in the fossil state, it seems natural to trace 

 back their appearance to a very distant epoch. Distributed in 

 America (Antilles, Central, and a portion of South America), Africa 

 (in the region of the Cape), and in Oceania (from Eastern Australia 

 into New Zealand), they have been considered hitherto as very 

 distinct one from the other according to the area which they occupy ; 

 and Mr. Pocock, attributing this fact to their great antiquity, has 

 taken the step of dividing them into three genera, each of which 

 would be peculiar to one of the three geographical zones mentioned 

 above. 



The object of this note is to show that this narrow localization 

 does not exist, and that the Onychophora have undergone progressive 

 evolution in the course of the ages, while they receded from their 

 centre of origin. 



The specimens which have enabled me to attack this problem 

 were collected in Africa by the lamented M. Thollon, who presented 

 them to the Paris Museum ; they belong to a new species, which I 

 propose to call Peripatus Tholloni, in memory of the brave and unfor- 

 tunate explorer by whom it was discovered. 



Since this curious species is intermediate between the American 

 forms and those of the Cape, I shall pass successively in review the 

 characters which have rendered it possible, up to the present day, 

 to distinguish the species from the various regions. 



