3°6 



COLLEGE ZOOLOGY 



place to place by means of its legs, the two extremely sensitive 

 antenna? test the ground over which it is to travel, while the eyes, 

 one at the base of each antenna, enable it to avoid the light. 



Peripatus capensis, drawn from life. (From Sedgwick.) 



When irritated, Peripatus often ejects slime, sometimes to the 

 distance of almost a foot, from a pair of glands which open on the 

 oral papilla?. This slime sticks to everything but the body of the 



animal itself; it is used principally 

 to capture flies, wood-lice, termites, 

 and other small animals, and in 

 addition is probably a weapon of 

 defense. A pair of modified ap- 

 pendages serve as jaws and tear the 

 food to pieces. 



Most species of Peripatus are 

 viviparous, and a single large female 

 may produce thirty or forty young 

 in a year. These young resemble 

 Fig. 229. — Peripatus ca- tne adults when born, differing 



pensis, ventral view of head. . 



ant, antenna: F.l, first leg; chiefly in Size and Color. 



or.p, oral papillae; T, tongue. The external appearance of Peri- 



(From Sedgwick.) ... • t— 



patus capensis is shown in figures 

 228 and 229. Figure 230 shows the principal internal organs 

 of a male specimen. The head bears three pairs of append- 

 ages: (1) the antenna, (Fig. 229, ant.), (2) the oral papilla {or.p), 

 and (3) the jaws, a pair of simple eyes, and a ventrally placed 



