102 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
ZOOLOGY. 
A Peripatus from Neiv Zealand. — In the 11 Annals of Natural History ” 
for November, Capt. Hutton describes a species of the curious genus of 
terrestrial worms, established by Lansdowne Guilding for a West Indian 
species under the name of Peripatus. Other species have been found in 
Chili and at the Cape of Good Hope, and hence Capt. Hutton believes the 
genus to be a relic of the fauna of that Antarctic Continent which, he 
thinks, existed during the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous periods. 
Its characters are very singular, apparently combining the peculiarities of the 
Myriopoda and the Annelida ; it has a soft body and ringed legs and antennae, 
but in internal structure it most nearly approaches the Annelida. The New 
Zealand species ( Peripatus Novce-Zealandice ) is said to be hermaphrodite, 
which the others are not. Respiration is effected by tracheae which contain 
irregular fibres. Capt. Hutton describes the New Zealand species as living 
among decayed wood, under stones, and crevices of rock. It is nocturnal 
and predaceous, and secures its prey, sometimes at all events, by shooting 
out from the oral papillae a viscid fluid, by which flies and other insects are 
fastened down. It moves slowly with the body much extended and the 
antennae constantly moving about as feelers. The reproduction is viviparous, 
and seems to go on all the year round, although the animals are half torpid 
in winter. 
Gigantic Cuttlefish. — Professor Verrill (“American Journal,’’ Sept. 1876), 
states that the organ described by him as the odontophore of the great Archi- 
teuthis from Newfoundland, is merely a specialized portion of the lining of 
the mouth or pharynx, covered with sharp chitinous teeth and granules, 
and that its original position is doubtful. The true odontophore is about 
three inches long and half an inch wide in its broadest part ; the teeth are 
in seven rows, amber-coloured, and like those of Loligo and Ommastrephes in 
form. Professor Verrill also records the discovery, by Mr. Dali, of gigantic 
Cephalopods on the coast of Alaska. The specimens observed were thrown 
up on the beach, and the largest was fourteen feet in total length, but even 
then the extremities of the tentacular arms were wanting. The length of 
the body to the root of the arms was 102 inches, the arms measured from 
30 to 40 inches, the slender portion of the tentacular arms was 61 inches in 
length, the width across the fins was 42 inches, and the diameter of the 
body 18 inches. From the characters of the animals, and especially from that 
of the few remaining suckers, the species is regarded as probably a true 
Ommastrephes , and it has been appropriately named by Mr. Dali 
O. robustus. 
A Carpet Eater. — The beetles of the genus Anthrenus are well-known 
destroyers of furs, skins, and similar articles, in fact one of them was named 
by Linnaeus Anthrenus musceorum , on account of the ravages committed by 
its larvae in natural history collections. An American species, Anthrenus 
lepidus , Leconte, hitherto known as an inhabitant of the Western States, 
seems to have a special predilection for carpets, and has advanced eastwards 
so rapidly as to have now attained central New York, where, according to a 
notice in the u American Journal of Microscopy,” it is known as the u Cali- 
fornian Carpet Moth.” 
