2 THE ANATOMY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PERIPATUS NOVAE-BRITANNIAE. 



sea-level, during the months of August and September 1897. The exact locality was 

 in the immediate vicinity of a fresh water source and in the gully in which the 

 stream from the source flowed, in the hills behind the native village of Karavia 

 which lies at the head of Blanche Bay, in the Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain. There 

 was a similar source about half a mile distant where I sought in vain for Peripatus. 

 This is not to be wondered at, since the extremely local or sporadic occurrence 

 of Peripatus is well known. The first specimen, a large female, was found beneath 

 decaying leaves, another was taken from a rotten but still standing stump of a cocoa-nut 

 palm, while the rest were found under stones and about the roots of plants growing 

 on the banks of the stream. The earth here was black, and to the unaided eye 

 the Peripatus appeared also quite black and, as the integument has a dull velvety 

 tone and is not glossy like that of the millipedes, there was some little difficulty in 

 distinguishing them amidst their dark surroundings. They were found singly, and it 

 is fair to conclude that Peripatus is not very abundant in that locality. Those that 

 were obtained seemed to be remarkably sluggish, and though I handled them freely I 

 did not once observe the emission of the tenacious slime from the tips of the oral 

 papillae, which is so characteristic of Peripatus. This was possibly due to the time of 

 the year at which they were taken. Hutton (10) says that the New Zealand Peripatus 

 becomes half-torpid during the winter months and will neither feed nor emit their 

 viscid slime at that time of the year " although procreation still goes on " (Hutton). 

 Similar observations have recently been recorded by Steel (23) in the case of the 

 Peripatus of New South Wales. 



Preservation. My material was preserved in 4 — 5 per cent, formol. I immersed 

 the animals in water until they were fully extended and either drowned or at least 

 quiescent, and then placed them directly in the preservative fluid without opening them. 

 If a living Peripatus be dropped into a dish of water it floats on the surface and when 

 forcibly submerged the whole skin becomes covered with an envelope of air presenting 

 a beautiful silvery sheen. Although I did not make any incision in the specimens 

 to allow for the penetration of the formol, this admirable fluid preserved them so 

 well that they arrived home in almost perfect condition, and I am able to give a 

 fairly complete account, not only of the internal anatomy, but also of the embryonic 

 development. Only the youngest stages were not well preserved owing to the resistance 

 to the penetration of the preserving medium offered by the egg-membrane, which is 

 at first very thick and subsequently attenuates. 



Name. It is, rather unfortunately perhaps, necessary to consider the propriety of 

 further providing our species with a name having generic or subgeneric value. Sedgwick, 

 in his monograph on the species and distribution of Peripatus (19), did not deem it 

 advisable to create generic subdivisions within the limits of such a homogeneous group 

 as the Onychophora, but the method of description adopted by him as well as the 

 facts which he brought forward, would seem to leave no other course open. In fact, 

 while tabulating the general (i.e. generic) characters respectively of the South African, 

 the Australasian, and the Neotropical groups of species, Sedgwick refrained from 

 definitely naming them. 



