348 Mr. H. N. Moseley on the Structure [May 21, 



to be hermaphrodite, but it is doubly remarkable now. The fact shuts 

 off at once all idea of Peripatus being a degenerate Myriopod, the 

 evidence against which possibility is overwhelming. The bilateral sym- 

 metry and duplicity of the organs of the body, the absence of stria- 

 tion in the muscles, of periodical moults of the larval skin in deve- 

 lopment, and of any trace of a primitive three-legged condition, taken 

 in conjunction with the divarication of the nerve-cords, are conclusive. 

 The parts of the mouth are not to be regarded as degraded to any great 

 degree ; and homologies for some of them, at least, may perhaps be found 

 amongst the higher Annelids. The structure of the skin is not at all 

 unlike that in some worms, especially in its chitinous epidermic layer, 

 which occasionally strips off in large pieces as a thin transparent pellicle. 

 The many points of resemblance of Peripatus to Annelids need not be dwelt 

 upon ; they led to its former placing in classification ; but it is difficult 

 to understand how the very unannelid-like structure of the foot-claws 

 did not lead others, beside De Quatrefages, to draw a line between Peri- 

 patus and the Annelids. In being unisexual, Peripatus is like the higher 

 Annelids, as well as the whole of the higher Tracheata. To Insects 

 Peripatus shows affinities in the form of the spermatozoa, and the elabo- 

 ration, structure, and bilateral symmetry of the generative organs, though 

 there is a very slight tendency towards the unilaterality of Myriopods in 

 the male organs. 



To Insects, again, it is allied by the five-jointing of the feet and oral 

 papillae and the form and number of its claws. It should be remembered 

 that spiders' feet are two-clawed, as are those of some Tardigrades, and 

 that some of these latter forms have two-clawed feet in the early condi- 

 tion even when they possess more claws in the adult state. In Newport's 

 well-known figure of the young lulus with three pairs of limbs, the 

 tips of these latter are drawn with two hair-like claws ; these are not 

 mentioned in the text. To the ordinary lepidopterous larva the resem- 

 blances of Peripatus are striking as, for example, the gait, the glands 

 (so like in their function and position to silk-glands), the form of the 

 intestine, and the less perfect concentration of the nervous organs, as in 

 larval insects. To Myriopods Peripatus is allied by the great variety 

 in number of segments in the various species, in its habits, and in these 

 especially to lulus. The parts of the mouth perhaps show a form out of 

 which those of Scolopendra were derived by modification ; but the resem- 

 blance may be superficial. Our knowledge is not yet sufficient to deter- 

 mine such points. The usual difficulties occur in the matter. Segments 

 may have dropped out or fused, and their original condition may not 

 be represented at all in the process of development. In structure Peri- 

 patus is more like Scolopendra than lulus, viz. in the many joints to the 

 antennae (in Chilognaths never more than fourteen), in the form of 

 spermatozoa, and in being viviparous, as are some Scolopendrce ; fur- 

 ther, in the position of the orifices of the generative glands and in 



