GENERAL NOTES. 573 
HABITAT OF PERIPATUS NOVA-ZEALANDIZ.—I was much 
surprised to read on p. 518 0f the N.Z. JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, 
that “hitherto Peripatus nove-zealandie appears to have only 
been found in one locality in New Zealand—viz., at Forbury, 
near Dunedin.” As it is of some importance that a correct list 
of habitats should be made, I venture to send you notes of 
printed records of its occurrence in various parts of theColony. (1) 
Professor Hutton, in the “ Annals and Magazine of Natural His- 
tory,” (vol. XVIII. p. 361), says—“ That a species of Peripatus 
inhabits New Zealand, was first brought under my notice by Mr. 
W. T. L. Travers, who showed me a good locality for them near 
Wellington. I have since found the same species at Nelson and 
Dunedin, so that it probably occursall over New Zealand.” (2) 
On p. 86, vol. XIX, of the same journal, Mr. Mosely says— 
“When H.M.S. ‘Challenger’ was at Wellington, Mr. W. T. L. 
Travers . . brought me off some specimens of the animal to 
the ship, and gave me such information about its whereabouts, 
that collectors sent from the ship were able to procure me 
about fifty living specimens.” (3) On p. 279 of “Notes by a 
Naturalist on the ‘ Challenger,” Mr. Mosely particularises the 
locality where these specimens were procured; he says “the New 
Zealand Peripatus (P. xove-sealandi@) is abundant near Wel- 
lington amongst dead wood, and I had 4o or 50 specimens 
brought to me as the result of a day’s search in the Hutt Val- 
ley.” (4) Iam informed by Dr. Hector that Mr. J. Buchanan 
obtained specimens in the North-East Valley, near Dunedin, as 
early as 1861, though, of course, he was not then aware of its 
systematic position. Its abundance throughout the Wellington 
Provincial District is evidenced by its occurrence at the following 
places :—Botanic Gardens, South Karori, Hutt Valley, Lowry 
Bay, Masterton, Wanganui, Porirua (T.W.K.), and Ohario (H. B. 
Kirk).—T. W. KIRK, Colonial Museum. 
MACHINE FOR TESTING STRENGTH OF TIMBER.—Several 
years ago on examining the late Mr. Balfour’s machine for test- 
ing the strength of the timbers of the Colony, I found that the 
machine was faulty in three respects, tending to give too high 
results. I then concluded that these faults caused the discre- 
pancy between the experiments at the Sydney Mint and those 
made by Mr. Balfour. To satisfy myself, I made a direct-acting 
machine, which proved that Mr. Balfour’s results for ultimate 
transverse strain are on an average 17 per cent. too high. I com- 
municated to Dr. Hector the fact that the Balfour machine was 
faulty. That gentleman took no notice, but, I believe, con- 
ducted another series of experiments with the same machine. I 
would warn engineers'that all ultimate strength results by that 
machine are unreliable. Subjoined you will see in the first 
column my experiments, in each case a mean of ten tests. The 
second column contains Mr. Balfour’s results :— 
