PERIPATUS IX NEW BRITAIN. 703 



called " a tita" (Parinanum laurinum) which has a wide distribution and is even called 

 by the same native name in the Solomon Islands, where it is employed for the same 

 purpose and also as cement for the remarkable inlaid work which the Solomon Islandei-s 

 practise in the decoration of their canoes, paddles and weapons. 



The kernel of the nut is removed and rubbed against a stone to produce a pulp. 

 According to native directions " u na ud ia ta ra wat," which means, word for word, 

 ■' you must rub it on the stone," the particle " na "' implying both obligation and futurit}-. 

 A quantity of dust or ashes is mixed with the pulp to form a paste which is then 

 employed like putty in filling u]j the crevices of the canoe. The composition soon turns 

 brown and dries hard, after which it is plastered over ^vith lime obtained from calcined 

 corals and mixed with the expressed juice of the cocoa-nut. 



The natives are cynojjhagists and I was told that they rub the bruised fruit 

 of the Barringtonia speciosa called " a vutun " on the closed eyes of recently born 

 pups, to cause them to open, but I did not actually see this veterinary feat performed. 



I stayed at Karavia, renting about half a bungalow belonging to Ah Tarn of 

 Matupi, from March 1 to July 12 (189.5). During this time hardly a day passed 

 Nvithout some expeiiments, operations or observations relating to Nautilus being carried on. 

 If I made an excursion into the bush behind Karavia to shoot a pigeon for lunch 

 or for change of occupation, either a cage, barrel, basket or hempen tangle would be 

 testing its quality in the silent depths of the bay. 



It was during one of these excursions, on the occasion of my second visit to 

 New Britain, that I had the good fortune to come across a species of Peripatus. 

 At the outset of my journey I had calculated upon the possibility of discovering the 

 Peripatus of New Britain, but it was not until near the close of my voyages, in the 

 year 1897, that my dream was realised. 



It is well known that Peripatios occupies an isolated position in the animal kingdom, 

 presenting signs of affinity both to the Annelid Worms and to the Tracheate Arthropods 

 but not falling into the sequence of normal gradation of forms. When seen from above, 

 immediately after turning over a stone or a fallen leaf or a piece of rotten bark, it 

 resembles a catei-pillar ; if looked at from below it is like a centipede with many pairs 

 of clawed legs, and when held in the hand or between the fingers it is found to be 

 soft like a caterpillar or a worm. 



From a zoogeographical point of view, Peripatus possesses a perennial interest which 

 does not diminish as time goes on, although the recent discovery of a new genus, with 

 three new species, in the Malay Peninsula during the Skeat Exjiedition to this region, 

 renders generalisation for the present impossible. We may confidently await further 

 jidditions to our knowledge of the distribution of the Onychophora for many yeai-s to 

 come, according as the various islands of the Eastern Archipelago are searched for their 

 cryptozoic inhabitants. For example it may seem difficult to believe that Peripatus has 

 been overlooked in Java which has been visited by so many naturalists of the highest 

 distinction, but it is equally incredible that it does not occur there. It is to be looked 

 for under leaves, bark and stones in damp mountain valleys near streams or springs, and 

 its absence from the neighbourhood of one source does not preclude the possibility of its 

 occurrence near another half-a-mile distant. It is essentially a creature of contradictions 



