46 



or absence of an albumen gland as the basis for the separation 

 of the Lumbriculidce into two groups, but without presenting 

 any reason for believing that such a character should be con- 

 sidered of especial importance in determining systematic rela- 

 tionships, and I am disposed to assume that it has at the most 

 no greater significance than that of a specific character. 



Positions of Sp'ermiducal Pores and Gonads. — The spermidu- 

 cal pores are usually on VIII in L. variegatus, but Yejdovsky 

 (1895) found them on VII in one specimen. Wenig found but 

 one spermiducal pore in each of the specimens examined by 

 him, and that on VIII. In L. inconstans the spermiducal pores 

 are on X in two of the specimens studied and on XI in another. 

 In the two species of Trichodrilus they are on X. With such 

 individual variability in mind, it seems reasonable to consider 

 the position of the spermiducal pores as of no more than spe- 

 cific importance. In L. e<irir<i<iti<s there is one pair of testes and 

 one pair of spermiducal funnels in VIII, and there are two pairs 

 of ovaries in IX and X. In L. inconstans there are two pairs of 

 testes and two pairs of spermiducal funnels in IX and X, and 

 two pairs of ovaries in XI and XII. In the European species 

 of Trichodrilus there is uncertainty about the testes. There are 

 two pairs of spermiducal funnels in IX and X and one pair 

 of ovaries in XI. With reference to the position of the gonads 

 our species is nearer to Trichodrilus, while in respect to the 

 number of ovaries it is more like L. variegatus. 



We will next consider several important respects in which 

 L. inconstans more closely resembles L. variegatus than it does 

 the European species of Trichodrilus. 



Seta\ — In L. variegatus and L. inconstans the setae are cleft; 

 in Trichodrilus they are simple. While it is true that in some 

 lumbriculid species the seta? may be partly simple and partly 

 cleft, yet to my knowledge there has been no occasion for 

 placing in the same genus species with seta? all simple and 

 other species with seta? all cleft, except in the genus Tricho- 

 drilus as defined by Michaelsen (1900, p. 58) in order that it 

 might include the species inconstans. 



