REMARKABLE SPECIES OF ECHIUROIDS. 11 



It is out of question that the above vesicular bodies are results 

 of mechanical injuries or of some sort of artificial treatment. 

 Their wall never and nowlierc shows an interruption or a histo- 

 logical disturbance which might be taken for an indication of 

 recent severance by force. Since, now, there exists in the male 

 specimen no trace of an alimentary canal, one is naturally led to 

 the conclusion that this had broken up into the numerous vesicles 

 above described, presumably by repeated constricting processes at 

 an early period in the male's life. 



An identical fate seems to befall upon the alimentary canal 

 of the male of another species called by me Bonellia misahiensis 

 (Jour. Sei. Coll., Vol. XX., Art. 4, p. 76). There I have found, 

 instead of a continuous alimentary canal, about ten separate sacs 

 of different lengths and sizes. These were scattered in the body- 

 cavity, apparently standing in no definite relation to one another. 



The vas deferens. — Thi^ presents some very remarkable pe- 

 culiarities. In Bonellia viridis, B. minor, etc., according to 

 Selexka, Greeff, Kietsch, Vejdovsky and some other authors, 

 the vas deferens is a long unpaired canal opening near the anterior 

 body-end. It runs free in the body-cavity and should sometimes 

 extend far backwards even into the posterior one-fourth of the 

 body, finally ending with a single, large, ciliated funnel. The 

 above holds good also for the male of B. misahiensis, which I 

 studied. In B. 7niyajimai, however, the vas deferens is very 

 short, scarcely longer than one-eighth of the body-length and 

 posteriorly splits up into four branches, which, arise in succession 

 one behind another and each of which terminates with a long- 

 stalked, large funnel. Externally the vas deferens opens by a 

 minute aperture situated somewhat ventrally from the anterior 



