SOUTH AFRICAN SPECIES. 157 



Peripatus capensis. 



South African Peripatus with seventeen pairs of claw-bearing 

 ambulatory legs. 



The females are, on the whole, larger than the males, but 

 the difference between them is not very marked. A large female 

 would measure about 65 mm. (2g inches), and a large male 

 about 48 mm. There are, however, other external differences 

 between the sexes. The last leg of the male is smaller than 

 the preceding, and rarely touches the ground when the animal 

 is walking, while in the female it is as large as the others, and 

 used in walking. Further, the last leg of the male possesses, 

 on its ventral surface, a small white papilla (fig. 4), at the apex 

 of which opens its crural gland, which is much enlarged. 



In the living animal (PI. XIV) the skin has a beautiful 

 velvety texture. This is especially noticeable in the darker 

 specimens. 



Colour. — The colour varies in different individuals. But in 

 general it may be said that the ventral surface has a light colour, 

 and that the dorsal is darkly pigmented. The principal colours 

 are two in number, which present every variation in tint in 

 different individuals and in different parts of the body of the 

 same individual. They are (1) a dark green, graduating to a 

 bluish grey ; (2) a brown, varying to a red orange. 



The ventral surface is almost entirely free from the green 

 pigment, but possesses a certain amount of light brown. This 

 brown pigment is more conspicuous and of a darker shade on 

 the spinous pads of the legs. The only part of the ventral 

 surface where the green pigment is always present is the ven- 

 tral side of the foot, where it has a blue tint, and round the 

 lips (fig. 5). In the latter situation there are a number of green 

 papillae, with which are intermingled a few of an orange 

 colour. Very rarely there is a suspicion of green pigment 

 along the middle line of the ventral surface, and in one 

 specimen I found the distal pad of the leg to contain green 

 pigment. 



