1887.] PERIPATUS FROM BRITISH GUIANA. 131 



the contents were dried up. Of the Peripati which I obtained twenty 

 individuals were brought to England alive, but were unfortunately 

 found to be much affected by the cold, and were tberefore killed and 

 preserved immediately on arrival. I also brought with me four 

 other specimens that had been preserved in British Guiana. 



All the specimens which I obtained were females, and all of them 

 contained embryos. A\\ the specimens examined, both large and 

 small, including those taken from the uterus, were found to have 30 

 pairs of legs, and of course a pair of oral papillae. In this respect 

 they differ from the form of Caraccas described by Ernst, in which, as 

 he states, the young ones have only 29 pairs of legs, while the adult 

 specimens possess 31 pairs. The colour of the Demeraran Peripatus 

 is a dark brick-red above and pinkish below with a dark suffused 

 median line on the dorsal surface, such as Ernst (25) described in his 

 specimens. The antennae are very much darker than the rest of the 

 body, in fact they are quite black. The body, as in all other forms of 

 Peripatus, is divided into numerous rings by lines of small warts, 

 about 10 to 12 rings going to each segment ; the legs and antennae 

 are also ringed, and the former bear the usual pair of hooks. 



In the living animal the colour is intermediate between the colour 

 of the two specimens now exhibited — that preserved in spirit being 

 of a darker, and that preserved in Pereney ' fluid being of a lighter 

 hue, than that of the living animal. The adult specimens vary from 

 2-25 to about 2*50 inch in length. It is useless to give exact 

 measurements, since not only do the animals contract when preserved 

 in spirit, but even the living animals vary greatly in size at 

 different times. 



The question as to what species the Demeraran Peripatus should 

 be referred is by no means an easy one. Specimens of Peripatus have 

 been obtained from the following places in the West Indies and South 

 and Central America: — 



(I) St. Vincent's, W. I. ; with 33 pairs of legs. Guilding (1). 

 (2J Cayenne ; with 29 pairs of legs. Audouin and Milne-Edwards 



(2) 



(3) Lake of Valencia, Venezuela. Wiegmaun (4). 



(4) Chili. Gay (12). 



(,.5) St. Thomas, W. I. Moritz (5). 



(6) Colonia de Tovar, Venezuela. Grnbe (11). 



(7) Santarem, Amazons ; 3 1 pairs of legs. Moseley (22). 



(8) Nicaragua. Belt (17). 



(9) Caraccas, Venezuela. Ernst (25). 



( 10) Trinidad (2 species). Kennel (30) and (31). 



(II) Island of Marajo, Amazons. Branner (34). 



(12) Dominica. Bell (28). 



(13) Porto Rico. Peters (23). 



P. torquatus, a species discovered by Kennel (31) in Trinidad, 

 and described by him, is easily distinguished by its large size 

 (15 mm.), the number of its pairs of legs (41-42), and by its yellow 



' Pereney fluid is a hardening fluid composed of chromic acid '5 p. c. sol., 3 

 parts ; nitric acid 10 p. c. sol., 4 parts ; spirit 90 p. c, 3 parts. 



9* 



