176 
IDENTITY OF THE AUSTRALIAN PERIPATUS, 
berichtet liber zwei Peripatusarten, von denen die eine, aus Neu. 
Seeland, mit P. Leuckarti, Sang., stimmt, die andere aber unter 
der Bezeichnung P. peruanus neu beschrieben wird."* Captain 
Hutton says that he sent specimens to Dublin, without any result. 
Finally in 1876, Hutton himself described the species as P. novcb- 
zealandice. Now at this time Hutton evidently was unaware of 
any record of an Australian Peripatus; nor, under the circum- 
stances, is that at all surprising, seeing that he was at least as badly 
off for literature as Moseley during the " Challenger's " visit to 
Wellington. Of Hutton's paper Leuckart remarks : — " Hutton's 
Abhandlung ' On Peripatus ■novce-zealanda& > (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 
(4) xviii., Nov., 1876, pp. 361-369, PL xvii.) macht uns mit einer 
Form bekannt, die 15 Beinpaare besitzt, wie der von Sanger 
(J.-B. 1870, S. 410) beshriebene P. Leuckarti, der unserm Yerf. 
freilich unbekannt geblieben ist, obwohl seine neue Art vielleicht 
damit zusammenfallt. Jedenfalls ist nicht der P. novce-zeaiandice, 
sondern der P. Leuckarti die erste Art des Gen. Peripatus, die aus 
Australien kommt."f 
When it is borne in mind that at this time only a single speci- 
men of the Australian Peripatus was known, and that a female. t 
whose jaw blades were not examined, Sanger not being at liberty 
to dissect the unique example at his disposal; also that, even in 
the light of up-to-date knowledge the most striking differences 
between the allied Australian and New Zealand species — P. 
insignis, Dendy, being left out of consideration for the present — ■ 
are furnished by the outer jaw blades, and the secondary sexual 
characters of the males, it would be interesting to know more 
definitely what it was that suggested the agreement between or 
possible identity of the two species. Perhaps Crube's paper would 
settle this point. Was it that too little was known for accurate 
* Arch. f. Naturgesch. Jahrg. xliii., 1887, ii. Bd. p. 510. 
+ L.c. p. 509. 
J The sex of the type specimen is not mentioned in the description; 
but in Sanger's fig. 31 the genital aperture is lettered vl., just as in his fig. 
of an undoubted female of P. capensis. 
