142 On the Oviparitij o/Peripatus Leuckartii. 



impossible to make out any details. I dissected the egg 

 which was found on September 16 and which had since then 

 been kept separate from the rest. I found in it a beautiful 

 embryo Peripatus in an advanced stage of development. The 

 embryo was surrounded by a delicate transparent membrane, 

 which fitted closely on to it and was very difficult to remove ; 

 outside this came the sculptured shell. The embryo 

 possessed a distinct head, with clearly recognizable brain, 

 eyes, and ringed antenna?, and there were at least seven pairs 

 of appendages behind the antennae. It lay tightly coiled up, 

 with the posterior extremity resting against the side of the 

 neck, in such a position as to make it very difficult to count 

 the appendages. The specimen was stained and mounted in 

 Canada balsam. 



This embryo, then, developed for more than ten weeks 

 after the &gg had been laid, and did not show the least sign 

 of " going to the bad." 



I need hardly say that during the heat of the summer 

 months I found it a very difficult matter to keep the eggs in 

 a suitable condition of moisture, especially as I had no 

 previous experience to guide me. Hence it is not to be 

 wondered at that the majority of the eggs perished, shrivelling 

 up and being attacked by a mould. As I was away from 

 Melbourne for some weeks during the summer I entrusted 

 the eggs to the care of the Rev. W. Fielder, who most 

 kindly looked after them for me in my absence. Frequent 

 attention was necessary in renewing the supply of moisture. 



On April 14th, 1892, only three eggs remained in the 

 hatching-box, the others having been removed as they 

 showed signs of going bad. One of the remaining three had 

 been showing dark pigment inside for some days past. This 

 egg I removed and carefully dissected. I found the shell of 

 a much darker (yellow) colour than when laid, a good deal 

 crumpled on the surface, and very soft, as though beginning 

 to decay away. The contained embryo was removed and 

 found to be in excellent condition, although outside it there 

 appeared under the microscope a great many very fine threads, 

 which 1 take to be the hyphse of a fungus. Possibly this 

 fungus might have ultimately killed the embryo, but the 

 latter was so far advanced that it seemed to be on the verge 

 of hatching. It was enclosed within the usual transparent 

 delicate membrane lying within the thick shell. I could not 

 determine whether the fungal hyphaj had penetrated within 

 this inner membrane, but I think it very doubtful. The 

 embryo was tightly coiled up as in the previous case. When 

 uncoiled it measured about 5 millim. in length (exclusive of 



