W. Gardner Lynn.
A New Location for Peripatus in Jamaica.
Psyche 43:119-125, 1936.

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19361 Peripatus in Jamaica 119
A NEW LOCATION FOR PERIPATUS IN JAMAICA
The Johns Hopkins University
The Island of Jamaica, B. W. I., is the habitat of two members of the Onychophora one of which, Peripatus swainsonas Cockerell, is an endemic species, while the other, Plicatoperipatus jamaicensis (Grabham and Cockerell), is the sole representative of an endemic sub-genus. The his-
tory of the discovery of these animals and the facts as to their known distribution in Jamaica have recently been re- viewed by E. A. Andrews (1933) and will be only briefly summarized here. The first recorded specimens from the island were collected by Philip Henry Gosse (1851) at Bluefields in the southwestern part of Jamaica, but were not at that time described as new. Forty years later (Grabham and Cockerell, 1892) Peripatus was again re- ported from Jamaica but from quite a different locality, near Bath in the southeastern portion of the island. These specimens were assigned to a new series. Peripatvs 10-
maicensis, and Gosse's original collections were assumed to represent the same.
During the succeeding years sev-
eral hundreds of specimens were obtained from the Bath region and when critically examined by Bouvier they were found to belong to two distinct species. Peripatus jawmi-
censis was present in considerable numbers but the major- ity of the specimens were regarded as representing a new variety of the species Peripatus juliformis Guilding which received the name P. juliformis var. swainsonas Cockerel1 and is so designated in Bouvier's (1905) monograph of the group. Gosse's original collection, of which three speci- mens were still extant in the British Museum, was also found to contain representatives of both these forms. Later in Clark's (1913) revision of the American species of Peri- patus, a new sub-genus, Plicatoperipatus, was erected for the reception of the species P. jamaicensis and the variety



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120 Psyche [December
swainsonas was elevated to specific rank under Peripatus s. s. In the time which has elapsed since the discovery of Peripatus at Bath, single specim,ens have been found at three other widely separated localities on the island. I?. S. Conant collected an example of P. jamaicensis at Blue Hole near Port Antonio on the north coast in the summer of 1897; E. A. Andrews found P. swainsonas near the Great River east of Montego Bay in 1910 and again at a locality very near Kingston, above Constant Springs, in 1932. All three of these specimens are to be found in the museum col- lection of the Johns Hopkins University. Peripatus has thus far been taken at five widely separated points in Ja- maica which, if connected by straight lines, would surround Figure 1-Outline map of Jamaica showing the six known local- ities for the Onychophora in that island. + = Peripatus swainsonae; 0 = Plicat operipatus jamuicensis.
an area embracing more than half the island. However, as
Andrews points out, it is by no means certain that the ani- mal occurs in all or much of this intermediate area. All five of the known localities are at relatively low altitudes, 1,000 feet or less, and the presence of Peripatus in the cen- tral mountain chain with its highest peaks rising to over 7,000 feet, has remained to be established. It was therefore with great interest that the writer, dur- ing the past summer, came upon Peripatus in the heart of the Blue Mountains at an altitude of nearly 5,000 feet. While collecting the eggs of the toad Eleutherodactylus nubicola (in connection with an embryological study aided by a grant from the National Research Council) a speci-



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19361 Peripatus in Jamaica 121
men of Pli~a~toperipatus jamaicensis was found beneath a rock near Morce's Gap. This gap is located between John Crow Peak and Bellevue Peak in the Parish of Portland at an elevation of 4,980 feet. It is but two miles north of the Cinchona plantation and through it passes the trail which leads from Silver Hill to Orange B'ay. It is located in the region of perpetual rain-forest with an annual rainfall of 105.70 inches (Shreve, 1914). The specimen herein de- scribed was found only about one hundred yards from the gap, beside the trail which leads to Trafalgar Gap; the "Vinegar Hill Trail." Upon turning a rock the animal was seen crawling about slowly on a bare stone in the neigh- borhood of a few dead leaves. The ground was somewhat dry at this time, there having been no rain for several days. The specimen was induced to crawl upon a leaf and was then placed in an 8 oz. collecting jar without handling. However, when a portion of the animal's skin touched the collecting bottle a whitish substance was given off at the point of contact and two large drops also appeared at the openings of the mucous glands on the oral papillae. An ex- amination of the bottle revealed that it was one in which an alcoholic specimen had previously been kept and that it still retained a slight trace of alcohol odor. The Peripatus was immediately transferred to a clean bottle in which it was carried without harm for the rest of the day. The por- tion of the body which had come into contact with the wall of the first bottle formed a whitish blister-like swelling, however, which may be seen in the photographs (Fig. 2) and still remains in the preserved specimen. The animal was collected at about 2 P.M. on July 21. It was carried about during the rest of the day's collecting and was suc- cessfully transported to Chester Vale, some three miles dis- tant, where it was photographed the same afternoon. It was kept in a large jar with a plentiful supply of dead leaves, the jar being wrapped in a moist cloth to give cool- ness and darkness. Here it remained quite active, moving about among the leaves and seemingly carrying on a nor- mal existence. On July 27 it was preserved in Bouin's Fluid for sectioning. Before being preserved it was killed by exposure to the fumes of chloroform. At this time it



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[ December
threw out its viscid white mucous from the oral papillae to a distance of three inches and several thread-like strands of the substance also appeared from the posterior mucous glands.
It had not been seen to do this during the week it Figure 2. Three successive photographs of Plicatoperipatw jwiwicensis crawling upon a leaf, Metric beneath lower figure, was under observation which may lead to the conclusion that it did not feed, since Mme. Claude-Joseph (1928) de- scribes the use of this substance in the capture of prey. When the specimen was immersed in Bouin's solution it was



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19361 Peripatus in Jamaica, 123
found to be completely coated dorsally by a thin film of air and it was only when warm Bouin's was employed that a proper preservation was insured. The power of the skin of Peripatus to repel moisture by means of the coating of air which forms about the papillae has frequently been noted (Claude-Joseph 1928, Andrews 1933). During life the ani- mal was dark reddish-brown above and pinkish beneath; the papillae appearing as an obscure peppering of light spots over the whole surface, with however some indication of an arrangement in four longitudinal rows on the dorsal side. Faint light stripes encircled the body opposite each pair of legs. The antennae were brown with striking- white tips (Fig. 2, lower photo) and were constantly moving about in all directions, sometimes even crossing each other. The body was 61 mm. long when extended; the antennae about 5 mm. As preserved the body is contracted to 45 mm. and the antennae to 3 mm. The individual is a female and has 38 pairs of legs. Only this one specimen was found even though much time was spent during June and July in turning rocks in this same general locality while collecting frog eggs. Possibly, however, a, search in dead trees and logs would have revealed more specimens. Mme. Claude-Joseph found the Chilean species Opisthopatus (Metaperipatus) blainmilei quite commonly under the bark of dead tree trunks though it occurred only very rarely beneath stones and logs.
This sixth locality for Peripatus in Jamaica seems espe- cially worthy of note since it lies within the area sur- rounded by the other known regions where Peripatus oc- curs, and in the heart of the Blue Mountains almost ex- actly mid-way between the north and south coasts. This apparently constitutes the first record of any member of the Onychopora from the Blue Mountain Range proper. Gosse's place of original discovery, Bluefields, is some eighty miles from the nearest part of the Blue Mountain chain and the three localities reported by Andrews (1911, 1933) are all in the lowlands near the coast. The Bath re- gion lies in the foothills of the extreme eastern end of the Blue Mountain chain. In this connection attention may be called to a recent statement by Dr. C. T. Brues (1935) to



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124 Psyche [December
the effect that "The occurence of Onychophora in Jamaica is, however, so far as known, restricted to the Blue Moun- tains as none have been discovered in other parts of the is- land." Possibly this error is based upon a misunderstand- ing as to the locality of Bluefields, which in spite of the name is far distant from the Blue Mountains. The great altitudinal range of P1icatoperipmh.s jamui- censis revealed by the present record is noteworthy. Un- fortunately exact altitude records have not been given for most of the 60 or 70 described species of Peripatus. The greatest elevation reached by any species seems to be that attained by Paraperipatus lorenzi Horst which was re- ported from the Wichmann Mts. of Dutch New Guinea at 10,000 feet. Oroperipatus cameranoi (Bouvier) was col- lected in the region of Sigsig and Cuenca, Ecuador at an al- titude of 2,550 meters (7,287 feet) and Peripatus manni Brues was recently recorded from near La Vesite, La Salle Plateau, Haiti at 5,000-7,000 feet. Peripatoides (Ooperi- patus) oviparzis (Dendy) is known from a number of locali- ties in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia and Helms (1890) records it from Mt. Kosciusko in the latter province at an altitude of 5,700 feet, in a region frequently covered with several feet of snow for four or five months in the year. In addition to these Onychophora which are defi- nitely recorded at considerable elevations in various parts of the world it is quite probable that a number of others of the Andean and Australasian forms may have come from comparable altitudes and that a careful check-up of the ele- vations of all the localities from which they are reported would reveal this. As to the altitudinal distribution of single species, however, less information is available. The present record extends the range of P. jamaicensis from sea level (the Blue Hole locality) to 5,000 feet. This range is rivaled by that of another Caribbean form Epiperipatus biolleyi (Bouvier) from Costa Rica which was found by M. P. Biolley near San Matteo at 250 meters and later by Pi- cado at an altitude of 2,000 meters. Other instances of comparable ranges could undoubtedly be culled from the literature. For example Peripatopsis moselleyi Wood- Mason, which is found at Riet Vlei, Natal, at 5,000 feet has



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19361 Peripatus in Jamaica 125
also been collected near Port Elisabeth, Cape Colony, a sea- port town; Peripatoides oviparus (Dendy) is not only re- corded from Mt. Kosciusko but also from Pyalong and War- burton in Victoria, localities for which the International Map of the World shows altitudes of 200-300 meters; Oro- peripatus corradoi (Camerano) comes from the Quito plain in Ecuador which is at 9,500 feet altitude but it is also re- ported from near Guayaquil on the coast. The ability of
Peripatus to withstand the great range of conditions to which it must be subjected at these various altitudes would seem to be worthy of consideration in relation to the prob- lem of dispersal of this animal. Also, the fact that indi- viduals showing the same specific characters are found in- habiting such diverse regions may be regarded as further evidence of the very slight tendency towards speciation in this group, which has resulted in its retention of so many primitive characteristics.
LITERATURE CITED
Andrews, E. A.
Jamaica Peripatus.
Notets from the J. H. U. Labo-
ratory at Montego Bay, Jamaica, Su'mner 1910. Johns Hopkins
Univ. Circ. Feb. 1911.
Peripatus in Jamaica.
Quart. Rev. Biol., vol. 8,
pp. 155-163. 1933.
Bouvier, M. E. L. Monographic des Onychopores. Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool., vol. 2, pp. 1-383. pis. I-XIII. 1905. and vol. 5, pp. 61-318. 1907. Brues, C. T. Varietal forms of Peripatus in Haiti. Psyche, vol. 42, pp. 58-62. 1935.
Clark, A. H. A revision of the American spjecies of Peripatus. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., vol. 36, pp.15-20.
1913.
Claude-Joseph, Mme. Observations sur Peripa'te du Chili (Opistho- patus blainvillei Gay-Gervais), Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. Series 10,
vol. 11, pp. 285-298. 1928.
Gosse, P. H. A. Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica. London 1851.
Grabham, M., & T. D. A. Cockerell. Peripatus rediscovered in Jam- aica. Nature, vol. 46, p. 514. 1892.
Helms, R.
Report of a collecting trip to Miount Kosciusko. Rec.
Austral. Mus., vol. 1 pp. 11-16.
1890.
Shreve, Forrest. A Montane R5n-Forest. Carnegie Inst., Washing- ton, Publ. No. 199, pp. 1-110. 1914.




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