766 
MR. H. N. MOSELEY ON THE STRUCTURE AND 
animals vary in colour, some being of a dusky brick-red, with a narrow black dorsal 
stripe, whilst the majority are entirely black ; but both males and females were found 
of the light-coloured variety. Of the twenty female specimens dissected only one was 
found which did not contain embryos in some stage of development. In this one the 
ova were immature, and there were no spermatozoa in the ovary. The breeding-period 
of Peripatus capensis is thus probably the months of November, December, and January, 
the three Cape summer months. Observations are required on the mode of congress of 
the sexes, and on the time and manner of the birth of the young. 
Female Organs . — The female organs were described by Grube as consisting of a pair 
of tubular ovaries running on the ventral surface of the intestine, and opening by a 
common aperture in the last segment but one. The organs are much more complicated 
than this in Peripatus capensis. They are figured in Plate LXXII. fig. 1. They con- 
sist of an ovary and pair of oviducts, which in the lower part of their course are dilated 
and perform a uterine function. 
The ovary is a small elongate body, divided by a median septum into two lateral 
halves, which lies underneath the lower part of the stomach, and between that viscus 
and the ventral wall of the body. The position of the ovary varies somewhat. It is 
sometimes higher up the body than at others ; but it is usually situate distant from 
the hinder extremity of the body about one sixth of the animal’s length. The ovary 
is usually bound to the under surface of the intestine by tracheae and the meshes of the 
slime-gland. From the ovary lead a pair of oviducts, connected with it in some cases 
by an elongate pedicle, as in Plate LXXII. fig. 1, in others (as in that figured in 
Plate LXXIV. fig. 1) arising directly from the base of the organ. The oviducts are 
slender tubes which pass upwards in the body-cavity, and then turn downwards again 
to run to the vulva, forming thus a loop. 
At a short distance, but one very variable in length from their commencement, the 
oviducts become enlarged and perform the function of a uterus, and when filled with 
embryos have the appearance of a string of sausages, each dilatation containing one 
embryo. The ducts, finally passing inwards towards the middle line under the nerve- 
cords, unite under the rectum into a very short common tube, which terminates in the 
vulva. The embryos are contained in the duct up to its very termination. The number 
of embryos present varies greatly. In the specimen figured (Plate LXXII. fig. 1) there 
were fifteen embryos on one side, and seventeen on the other. One small specimen 
had only ten embryos altogether, and another only eight. 
The oviducts and uterine tubes are not attached to the body-walls, but lie loosely in 
its cavity ; hence the loops become twisted about into various postures, and a most 
extraordinary condition exists with such frequency and regularity that it must almost 
be considered normal. This is one in which the oviduct, or sometimes the uterine tube 
itself, is tied in a knot round its own loop. The knot, which is shown in Plate LXXII. 
fig. 1 ,/c, is what is called by sailors an “ overhand knot on a bight,” and is, of course, 
such a one as can be tied on a loop of string which has both ends made fast. The 
