PROTOTR ACHE ATA. 283 



no trace of this. In respect to its legs, therefore, Peripatus is hardlv 

 an Arthropod. 



Skin. — The chitinous cuticle, ordinarily thick in Arthropods, is 

 delicate. The epidermis is a single layer of cells. 



Muscular system. — Externally there is a layer of circular muscles ; 

 within this lies a double layer of diagonal fibres ; internally there are 

 strong longitudinal bundles. Finally, in connection with this inteinal 

 layer, there are fibres which divide the apparent body cavity into a 

 median and two lateral compartments. The median includes heart, 

 gut, slime glands, reproductive organs ; the laterals include the nerve- 

 cords and salivary glands; the legs contain nephridia and coxal or 

 crural glands. Striped, rapidly-contracting muscles are characteristic 

 of Arthropods, but in Peripatus the muscles are unstriped, excepting 

 those which work the jaws and are perhaps the most active. The true 

 cc i-lom is represented in the embryo by the cavities of the mesoderm 

 segments, which give origin to the muscular system. 



Nervous system. — The dorsal brain is connected by an oeso- 

 phageal ring with the two widely separate latero-ventral nerve-cords. 

 These are connected transversely by numerous commissures, are slightly 

 swollen opposite each pair of legs, to which they give off nerves, and 

 are united posteriorly over the anus. There are only hints of ganglia, 

 but there is a continuous layer of ganglionic cells. The brain is very 

 homogeneous, simpler than that of most Insects. From the brain 

 nerves pass to the antenna;, etc., and two viscerals or sympathetics, 

 soon uniting, innervate the anterior part of the gut. Sense organs are 

 represented by two simple eyes on the top of the head. These are 

 most like the eyes of some marine Annelids. Behind each there lies a 

 special optic lobe connected with the brain, but the eye itself arises as a 

 dimple in the skin. 



Alimentary canal. — Round about the mouth papilla; seem to 

 have fused to form a "mouth cavity," which includes the mandibles, a 

 median pad or tongue, and the opening of the mouth proper. The 

 mouth leads into a muscular pharynx, into which opens the common 

 duct of two large salivary glands, which extend far back along the body. 

 Mouth, pharynx, and short oesophagus are lined by a chitinous cuticle, 

 like that of the exterior. The long endodermic digestive region or mid- 

 gut extends from the second leg nearly to the end of the body. Its 

 walls are plaited. Finally, there is a short rectum or proctodeum, 

 lined by a chitinous cuticle. 



Circulatory system. — The dorsal blood vessel foims a long con- 

 tractile heart. It lies within a pericardial space, and receives blood by 

 segmentally arranged apertures with valves. The circulation is mostly 

 in ill-defined spaces in the apparent body cavity or " ha;moccele." 



Respiratory system. — Very long and fine unbranched trachea; are 

 widely distributed in the body ; a number open together to the exterior 

 in flask-like depressions. These openings or stigmata are diffuse and 

 irregular in Peripatus edwardsii, but in P. capensis there is a dorsal and 

 ventral row on each side. In P. novce zealandia the trachea; are said 

 to be branched. 



Excretory system. — A pair of nephridia lie in each segment. 

 Each consists of an internal mesodermic terminal funnel, a looped canal, 



