SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



37 



worms and Arthropods. Requiring a moist atmo- 

 sphere, and living in shady places beneath bark, 

 decaying logs, &c, the various species have soft, 

 somewhal vermiform bodies, two inches to three 

 inches long, and possess, in addition to oral 

 papillae, a pair of antennae, and numerous pairs 

 of little, soft, conical legs, placed laterally, along 

 the whole length of the body. In manner of pro- 

 gression, and in general form, the creatures have 

 been compared to caterpillars: and naturalists 

 who have seen them alive speak with admiration of 

 their appearance. According to Sedgwick ( :| ), " the 

 exquisite sensitiveness and constantly changing 

 form of the antennae, the well-rounded plump body, 

 the eyes set like small diamonds on the side of the 

 head, the delicate feet, and, above all, the rich 

 colouring and velvety texture of the skin, all com- 

 bine to give these animals an aspect of quite ex- 

 ceptional beauty." 



The slime-glands lie on each side of the digestive 

 tract, stretching down nearly its whole length, and 

 having numerous ramified tubes, which twist round 

 the stomach and entangle themselves about the 

 generative organs. The ducts into which the 

 tubes open are enlarged along the greater part of 

 their course into sacs or reservoirs, which serve to 

 store up the secretion of the tubes, and to eject it 

 from the oral papillae in the form of jets or 

 threads.(') 



According to Moseley, these glands are probably 

 homologous with the silk-glands of caterpillars. 

 The oral papillae, he says, are modifications of the 

 second pair of body-members of the embryo. 



The ejection of the tenacious fluid has been 

 remarked upon, I believe, by most naturalists who 

 have collected Peripatus. Guilding, who was the 

 discoverer of the genus ( 5 ), noticed the habit, in 

 St. Vincent, in Peripatm juliformis ; Gosse saw it 

 in a Peripatus found in Jamaica ( 6 ) ; Belt in one 

 found in Nicaragua ( 7 ) — Belt refers to the creature 

 as a Myriapod, but dried specimens subsequently 

 shown to Moseley proved to be Peripatus^)— Hutton 

 inPeripatus novae-zealandiae (") ; Oakley inPeripatus 

 capensis ( 10 ) ; Dencly in a Peripatus collected in 

 Victoria (") ; Steel in Peripatus leuckarti from New 

 South Wales ('-) ; and Ward in Peripatus moseleyi 



(3) Sedgwick, "Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci." (N.S.), xxviii. 

 (1888), pp. 431-493; "Camb. Nat. Hist.," v. (1895), pp. 3- 

 26. 



(4) Moseley, on "Peripatm capensis, "Phil. Trans.," elxiv. 

 (1874), pp. 757-7S2 ; Hutton, on Peripatus novae-zealandiae, 

 ••Ann. ami .Mag. of Nat. Hist." (4), xviii. (1870), pp. 361-308, 

 and (S ), i. < 1878), pp. 204-206. 



(5) Guilding, "Zool. journ.," ii. (.1826), pp. 443,444. 



( 6) Gosse, '• Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica," 1851, p. 66. 

 ( 7 ) Belt, •' Naturalist in Nicaragua," 1874, pp. 140, 141. 



(8) Moseley, "Ann. and .Mag. of Nat. Hist." (5), hi. (1879), 

 Jip. 265, 266. 



(9) Hutton, 1876, I.e. 



(10) Oakley, "Trans, s. African PhilOS. Sue," iii. ,1884), 

 pp. 35-37. 



( U ) Dendy, "Nature," xxxix. ( 1889), p. 366. 

 (12) Steel, "Proc. Linn. Sue. N.S.W.," xxi. (1896), pp. 91- 

 103. 



from Natal( 13 ). Moritz, Moseley, and Sedgwick, 

 moreover, have recorded observations on this sub- 

 ject. One gathers thai it is when the animals are 

 alarmed by Midden exposure to Light, or when they 

 are irritated or menaced, thai they are most com- 

 monly seen to make their dischary.es. The ejected 

 matter, all the authors agree, is intensely viscid, 

 Gosse compares it 'to birdlime, and Hutton says 

 that it dries so quickly and is -o tenacious that 

 the finger is with difficulty removed if stuck with 

 it to the table. The jets stiffen on exposure to 

 the air, according to Belt, " to the consistency of 

 a spider's web, but stronger." 



Moritz's notes, written in ls:;;», are based on a 

 Peripatm discovered in St .Thomas, and on numer- 

 ous specimens observed in Venezuela. He says 

 that the slime is shot out into threads from both 

 sides of the animal, and that the creatures are in 

 the habit of making the discharge at the moment 

 the stones or pieces of wood under which they are 

 found are lifted, the white slime-threads being 

 usually seen before the animals themselves are 

 noticed. Moritz succeeded on one occasion in 

 observing a specimen before it made the discharge ; 

 but even in this case he could not see the actual 

 expulsion, which was as quick as lightning. The 

 slime, moreover, was colourless when it first issued 

 forth, the white colour of the threads and their 

 toughness being acquired upon contact with the 

 air ( u ). Mdseley writes that Peripatus capensis also 

 shoots out the fine jets with such remarkable 

 suddenness that it is almost impossible to observe 

 their passage from the animal's head. The threads 

 thus formed, he says, cross one another in various 

 directions, and form a sort of meshwork, often of 

 considerable complexity, which suddenly appears 

 as if by magic suspended from objects in front of 

 the animal, and has then the appearance of a bit 

 of spider's web dotted with the dew. When ex- 

 amined under the microscope, the threads are seen 

 to be fine and hyaline, with variously sized, highly 

 refractile, spindle-shaped globules situate at in- 

 tervals upon them : and they thus much resemble 

 the beaded spiral lines of the snares of Epeirids. 

 Small specimens, Moseley adds, soon exhaust their 

 immediate supply, and cannot be induced, even 

 when squeezed hard, to make more than two or 

 three discharges ; large specimens, however, can 

 make at least a dozen discharges one after 

 another ( 15 ). 



According to Sedgwick ("*), who also observed 

 Peripatus capensis, the ejection results from a 

 sudden contraction of the muscular body-wall, by 

 which means the contents of the slime-reservoirs 

 are driven out with considerable force. Belt gives 



(13) Ward, "Journ. Quekett Micr. Ohio" (2), vi. (1897), 

 pp. 424-428. 



(14) Moritz, "Arclriv fUr Naturgeschichte," Jahrg. v., Bd. i. 



(1SS9), pp. 175,176. 



(15) Moseley, 1871, I.e. ; •• Notes of a Naturalist on tlie 

 'Challenger,'" 1879, pp. 160, 161 ; and "Challenger" Reports, i. 

 1 1 885 1, p. 285. ( 16 1 Sedewick, /..•. 



