190 THE GENUS PEEIPATUS. 



The male organs dififer from those of the Cape species and 

 resemble those of the New Zealand species in the fact that the 

 common posterior part of the testicular ducts is of great length. 

 A very good description of it has been given by Gaffron. A 

 pair of accessory glands is present in the male. They open on 

 each side of the anus (Gaffron) . 



Nephridia are present in the legs of the last pair but are 

 absent from the penultimate legs, between which the genera- 

 tive opening is placed (Gaffron, No. 35). With regard to the 

 crural glands, Gaffron states that they are absent from the 

 female, and only present in the males in those legs provided 

 with the tubercles described above. 



The ova are small and without yolk. Their development has 

 been described in a closely-allied species from Trinidad by 

 Kennel, according to whom the embryos acquire a placental 

 connection to the uterine wall and an amnion. These struc- 

 tures are, however, said to disappear after a certain stage is 

 reached, and there is reason to doubt whether they have the 

 relations, significance, and method of development which 

 Kennel ascribes to them (Sclater, No. 46). 



The uterus contains embryos in all stages of development, 

 and the young, which are fully developed at birth, are pre- 

 sumably born at different times of the year. 



The length of mature embryos of Peripatus Edwardsii, lying 

 stretched out in the uterus with head near generative opening, 

 is about 20 mm. 



The length of a large adult female is 55 to 60 mm. The males, 

 of course, are rather smaller. 



Habits. — The habits of this species are apparently much 

 the same as in the other species. A large number of speci- 

 mens were found by Ernst in a yard of the University building 

 of Caracas under heaps of rubbish. 



Peters (No. 24) mentions specimens from the following 

 localities in Venezuela : — Caracas, Puerto Cabello, Laguayra. 

 He states that some of the specimens from Puerto Cabello 

 have thirty and others thirty-two pairs of legs. 



