354 
Psyche 
[September-December 
legs. The latter species was taken abundantly in leaf litter in scrub- 
jungle at from 1200 to 2000 feet elevation. However, eyelessness 
and loss of legs are characters that can be convergently acquired, and 
the two genera are presently placed in different subfamilies, based 
on the number of foot papillae (three and more in Peripatinae of 
the New World and equatorial Africa, and only two in the Eoperi- 
patinae (containing Eoperipatus and Typhloperipatus in the Indo- 
Malaysian area). Kemp (1914: 491) lists other features uniting 
Typhloperipatus with New World genera more closely than with 
Malaysian Eoperipatus , but this relationship should be reviewed. 
A low number of legs may be a primitive feature in the Peripati- 
dae. In comparison to the 22 or 23 pairs in S. Spelaeus, 23 (to 27) 
pairs occur in Mesoperipatus tholloni of equatorial Africa, and 23 
(to 29) pairs occur in some species groups of Oroperipatus. How- 
ever, in all other New World genera, 27 pairs seems to be the lowest 
number. 
In conclusion, the genus Speleoperipatus, because of its intermedi- 
ate characteristics involving Asian and African as well as New 
World genera, seems to have originated from an ancient lineage of 
onychophorans in which the characters were not as well segregated 
as they are at present. In this case, Speleoperipatus , Mesoperipatus 
and Typhloperipatus of the Peripatidae can be regarded as relicts of 
earlier more widespread groups. The eyelessness of Typhloperipatus 
shows that this feature can be associated with species that do not 
live in caves. Speleoperipatus may thus have become eyeless before 
it entered a cave habitat, but until it is found in a non-cave habitat 
(such as forest litter or talus slopes), it should be considered as a 
troglobitic cave-limited species. It is worth noting, in closing, that 
the two families of the Phylum have once each, and independently, 
entered and permanently occupied a cave habitat and may have be- 
come restricted to, and specialized for, this cave habitat. 
Acknowledgements 
My wife, Jarmila, prepared the illustrations, and helped in field 
work in Jamaican caves in 1972 and 1974, as did our daughters 
Olga and Hana in 1974. This field work, as well as that of Russell 
M. Norton of Yale University in 1973, was partially supported by 
my Canadian National Research Council operating grants. Bernard 
C. Lewis, Thomas Farr, and George R. Proctor of the Institute of 
Jamaica (Kingston) provided various assistance and help in Jamaica, 
and Dr. Farr allowed examination of the collections in the Institute. 
