Messrs. Hancock and Embleton on the Anatomy o/EolIs. 83 



its papillae, and in one instance an E. Drummondi crawled from 

 one side of the compressor to the other. The expulsion was ef- 

 fected by the walls of the vesicle, and recurred at intervals; 

 small masses of the bodies were ejected with considerable force, 

 and to some distance. We do not feel ourselves at present in a 

 position to decide upon the true nature of these bodies, but we 

 may say that they resemble Spermatozoa more than anything 

 else ; we may add, that we have obtained bodies to all appearance 

 Spermatozoa from the genital organs of E. papillosa, which dif- 

 fered only from those obtained from the papillae in being more 

 rounded as to their bodies, and altogether inferior in size. They 

 are shown in PI. V. fig. 13, as seen under deficient magnifying 

 power. 



We shall now revert to the follicular gland of the papilla. We 

 think there can be no doubt of its being a secreting organ pour- 

 ing its secretion into the digestive cavity, and we agree with M. 

 de Quatrefages in the opinion that the entire series of these 

 glands represents the liver, which in the Mollusca is characteris- 

 tically large, but in the Eolidince has disappeared from the abdo- 

 minal cavity. The central canal of the gland opens inferiorly by 

 a short duct, PI. IV. figs. 2, 3, 4 a, into one of the ramifications 

 of the digestive cavity, and superiorly by the delicate canal before 

 described into the ovate vesicle. We have no doubt that by the 

 lower opening the secretion of the gland finds its way into the 

 gastric ramifications ; but as to the nature of the communication 

 or connexion between the gland and the ovate vesicle, we confess 

 our entire ignorance. -.^>^ 



To give a general idea of the digestive apparatus, we should say f 

 that the compound follicles of the papillae represent the liver ; the 

 small tubes leading from them are their ducts, by which their 

 secretion is carried into the gastric organ consisting of the pyri- 

 form pouch, the great central canal, and their main branches. 



In some species however the structure and functions of the se- 

 veral parts seem somewhat modified. In E. despecta the central 

 canal, all the ramifications and the glands of the papillae are co- 

 loured and granulated alike ; it is therefore probable that the 

 whole of these parts perform the same function. The stomach 

 and intestine are the only parts that are transparent in this re- 

 markable species. In E. gracilis y E. rufibranchialis, E. Northum- 

 hrica and others, either the extremity of the great central canal 

 or the ends of the lateral ramifications are slightly coloured like 

 the glands of the papillae. 



This view of the matter is somewhat corroborated by what is 

 observed to take place during digestion. The food enters the 

 stomachal bulb in large masses, and is there broken up and mixed 



