172 
ON THE SPECIFIC IDENTITY OF THE AUSTRALIAN 
PERIPATUS USUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE P. 
L BUCK ART I, SAENGER. 
By J. J. Fletcher. 
In his well known Monograph (p. 153) Mr. Sedgwick remarks 
that Peripatus "was reported from Australia in 1869 by Saenger." 
It is generally supposed also that this was the first intimation of 
an Australian Peripatus. As a matter of fact there is an earlier 
notice which has been lost sight of, Professor Leuckart having 
reported it in 1862. 
The second species of the genus to be made known was P. 
brevis with 14 pairs of claw-bearing legs. One specimen was 
obtained on Table Mountain in 1829, from which De Blainville 
described the species in 1837. During the stay of the "Novara" 
at the Cape, Frauenfeld discovered a second South African species 
of which he subsequently gave a short account in a paper entitled 
" Aufenthalt am Cap d. g. Hoffnung wahrend der Weltfahrt der 
k. k. osterreichischen Fregatte Novara."* This paper also has 
been overlooked, nor is it mentioned in the bibliographical lists of 
either Sclater (P.Z.S., 1887, p. 133) or Sedgwick (Monograph, p. 
209). It was to his record of this paper that Prof. Leuckart 
appended his introductory notice of the Australian Peripatus. 
Frauenfeld says : " Der interessanteste Fund war ein Peripatus 
unter Steinen . . . Wenn nicht in der neuesten Zeit irgendwo 
beschrieben, ist derselbe jedenfalls neu, da er in der Fusszahl, 17 
Paare, mit keiner der wenigen alterbekannten Arten uberein- 
stimmt." Leuckart's short abstract runs as follows: " Frauenfeld 
beobachtete am Cap der guten Hoffnung eine neue Art des sonder- 
baren Gen. Peripatus mit 17 Paar Beinen. A. a. O. S. 88. (Ref. 
*Verh. der k.k. zoolog.-botan. Gesellsch. in Wien, Jahrg. 1360, pp. 77-92. 
