.\o. 2263. ]^rE^ AFRICAN EARTHWORMS— SMITH AND QREEN. 



163 



Fig. 15. — POLYTOREUTUS 



MULTiPouus. Ordinary 

 SETA, (a OF 11). X35. 



much less strongly developed on the ventral side of the somites than 

 elsewhere. It includes 14-17 and encroaches slightly on 13 and 18. 

 Dorsal pores are lacking. The nephridiopores are rather conspicu- 

 ous near the intersegmental grooves and between the seta lines c and d. 

 The male pore is conspicuous on the posterior part of 17, and in one 

 paratype there is a protruding penis (fig. 13), which is directed 

 anteriorly and has a length of about one-half ^^, 



of the diameter of the body. The oviducal ,^' ' , 



pores are near the posterior border of 14, in the 

 seta line (?, and arc rather inconspicuous. The 

 spermathecal pore is a median transverse cleft 

 on 18/19. Inconspicuous, median, interseg- 

 mental pores are present on 19/20-24/25 or 

 25/26 and open into a posterior extension of the 

 spermatheca (fig. 16). 



Internal characters. — The thickened septa of the anterior somites 

 correspond in position and thickness with those described in most 

 species of the genus. There is nothing peculiar in the alimentary 

 tract, which has a powerful gizzard in 5, unpaired ventral pouches 

 in 9. 10, and 11, and a pair of calciferous glands in 13. Careful 

 attention to the septal relations is necessary, or one is in danger 



of locating these glands in 15, 

 since thej^ are pushed back 

 with the septum 13/14 past the 

 incomplete septum 14/15. This 

 dislocation is due to the pres- 

 ence of the massive anterior 

 branches of the spermatheca, 

 which nearl}^ fill the space 

 normally belonging to 13. The 

 alimentary tract abruptly 

 widens to form the intestine, 

 slightly posterior to the open- 

 ing of the calciferous glands 

 into the esophagus. The 

 " hearts " in 10 and 11 are very 

 large, those of 9 are consid- 

 erably smaller, and there ap- 

 pears to be a still more slender 

 pair of vessels connecting the dorsal and ventral vessels in 8; 

 but the vascular system anterior to 9 has not been carefully studied, 

 and no positive statement can be made concerning a possible doubling 

 of the dorsal vessel in anterior somites. 



Paired sperm vesicles in 11 include the spermaries, the spermiducal 

 funnels, but not the sperm magazines. From the sperm vesicles the 



>*,Aj»»;gi_ 



l|*Ji 



rA^ ^-^. 



';' 



Fig. 16.— Polytoreutus multiporus. Longitudi- 

 nal SECTION showing THE SPERMATHECA NEAR 

 THE SPERMATHECAL PORE. X35. a St p, MoST AN- 

 TERIOR ACCESSORY SPERMATHECAL PORE AT 19/20; 

 b, EDGE OF bursa; 71 C, NERVE CORD", St, POSTE- 

 RIOR PART OF MEDIAN SPERMATHECAL SAC (THROUGH 

 NARROW EDGE); p St, POSTERIOR BRANCH OF SPER- 

 MATHECA; St p, SPERMATHECAL PORE AT 18/19. 



