1016 NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN EARTHWORMS, 



each side, and corresponding with the interval between the second 

 and third setae; in mature worms the ventral surface of segment 

 XVIII on each side from about the position of the first to the 

 fourth seta all round the male pores is very tumid forming a con- 

 spicuous papilla bulging somewhat both forwards and backwards, 

 more or less concentrically furrowed ; and from the male pores 

 there protrude what are probably functionally penial organs, 

 though they appear to be only the proximal portions of the genital 

 ducts everted. The oviduct pore is single (not as previously 

 stated) ; the spermathecal pores are more dorsally situated than 

 in any species I have yet seen ; owing to the irregularity of the 

 setae they are not always "in line with about the eighth setae," 

 but may be as far dorsad as opposite the interval between the 

 ninth and tenth setse. 



The supposed accessory copulatory structures on x and xi 

 present in the largest of the original specimens are absent. 



Genitalia : in addition to the three pairs of vesiculse seminales 

 in IX, XI, and xii there may be two additional rudimentary pairs 

 in xiii, and xiv (unless the last of these, situated on the posterior 

 face of the septum between xiii and xiv below and at the sides of 

 the alimentary canal, should be appendages of the oviducts). The 

 long caeca of the spermathecse may be much longer than the 

 pouches. 

 . ^a6.— Eltham, Victoria (collected by Mr. W. W. Smith). 



In addition to the fine series of worms, Mr. Smith, who is a 

 most enthusiastic observer of earthworms, very kindly sent me a 

 number of the cocoons together with portions of the burrows, 

 respecting which I give the following extracts from his letter : — 

 " I send you fragments of the burrows of P. dorsalis with cocoons 

 in situ to show their position with regard to the burrows. Several 

 writers on the subject maintain that they are found in the burrows 

 themselves, but I have never yet met with a single instance of 

 such a thing, although I have examined hundreds of the burrows 

 of New Zealand worms. You will see from the fragments sent 

 that the cocoons are deposited by the worms on an average about 



