XXII. On the structure and development of Peripatus capensis

• Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1874
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1874.0022; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstl.1874.0022

At the outset I wish to express my obligations to Prof. Wyville Thomson, by whom this paper is communicated to the Royal Society. Prof. Thomson kindly examined a series of preparations of various structures in Peripatus , and gave me the benefit of his long experience in such matters, and especially confirmed my views as to the identity of the tracheæ, which, of course, I had some hesitation at first in admitting as such, since they occurred in an animal in which, from what was at that time known concerning it, such structures were so little to be expected. Prof. Thomson further gave every encouragement to the prosecution of my further investigations on the subject. Peripatus has always been regarded as of such especial zoological interest that no apology is necessary for the present paper. Peripatus was naturally the first animal sought after by the naturalists of the 'Challenger’ expedition on their arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, and I was lucky enough to find a considerable number of specimens on the very first occasion of searching for them. My intention had been only to try to keep the animals alive so as to obtain their eggs and watch their development, but on opening one large specimen I immediately recognized the presence of tracheæ, and found the animal to be viviparous and full of far-advanced embryos. I therefore commenced as careful an examination of the structure and development of Peripatus as my available time during our stay at the Cape allowed; and although the investigation is far from complete, the results embody so much that is novel and important that I consider it better to publish them now, leaving the gaps to be filled in by other observers, or by myself by further work at the subject during the Antarctic cruise of the ‘Challenger,’ should such work be then found practicable.