CHAPTER I. 

 The Genus PERIPATUS Guilding. 



Soft-bodied vermiform animals, with one pair of ringed 

 antennae, one pair of jaws, one pair of oral papillae, and a vary- 

 ing number of claw-bearing ambulatory legs. Dorsal surface 

 arched and more darkly pigmented than the flat ventral surface. 

 Skin transversely ridged and beset by wart-like spiniferous 

 papillae. Mouth anterior, ventral ; anus posterior, terminal. 

 Generative opening single, median, ventral, and posterior. One 

 pair of simple eyes. Brain large, with two ventral hollow 

 appendages ; ventral cords widely divaricated, without distinct 

 ganglia. Alimentary canal simple, uncoiled. Segmentally 

 arranged, paired nephridia are present. Body cavity is con- 

 tinuous with the vascular system, and does not communicate 

 with the paired nephridia. Heart tubular, with paired ostia. 

 Respiration by means of tracheae. Dioecious ; males smaller 

 and generally less numerous than females. Generative glands 

 tubular, continuous with the ducts. Viviparous. Young born 

 fully developed. They shun the light, and live in damp places 

 beneath stones, leaves, and bark of rotten stumps. They eject 

 when irritated a viscid fluid through openings at the apex 

 of the oral papillae. 



Distribution: South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, 

 South America and the West Indies [and Sumatra?]. 



The genus Peripatus was established in 1826 by Guilding 

 (No. 1), who first obtained specimens of it from St. Vincent 

 in the Antilles. He regarded it as a Mollusc, being no 

 doubt deceived by the slug-like appearance given by the 



