CHINESE EARTHWORMS — GATES 413 



over the gut but under the dorsal blood vessel and down onto the 

 ventral parietes on the other side. In another specimen the appendices 

 terminate in xx, but segments xxi-xxxvii are filled with ova while 

 to the left of the nerve cord in xxvii-xxxvi and to the right in xxxvii- 

 xliii is a posterior continuation of the appendix. Presumably the 

 appendices were ruptured sometime previous to collection, releasing 

 numbers of ova, after which the broken ends closed over. 



The spermathecal duct is rather thick relative to the size of the 

 animal and is 3-4 mm long. The atrium is finger-shaped, erect, on 

 the posterior face of 7/8, 1/2-34 mm high, length greater than thick- 

 ness. The spermathecal duct passes into the atrium near the ental 

 end but runs ventrally in the wall of the atrium nearly to the parietes 

 before its lumen opens into the atrial lumen. 



Convex, rounded glands project conspicuously into the coelomic 

 cavities dorsal to the genital markings. 



Remarks. — Z>. japonica was erected on two specimens from Japan, 

 which are no longer available for study, as they were sectioned. In 

 these circumstances it has been necessary to determine certain im- 

 portant specific characteristics from later specimens identified by the 

 author of the species. There is at present little if any evidence against 

 the correctness of the identification, though earlier accounts of the 

 species leave much to be desired. Although Stephenson speaks of 

 the prostates as "opening on the surface in groove 10/11" in his In- 

 dian specimens (1922, p. 126), he definitely figures a segmental loca- 

 tion of the male pores (1923, p. 142). The ovisac appendages were 

 not mentioned by previous authors, and hence it is of interest that 

 Stephenson clearly shows a section through an appendix resting on 

 the parietal floor of segment xii (1922, pi. 1, fig. 4, labeled sac). 



Chen (1936, p. 291) maintains that the presence of the ovisac ap- 

 pendages and the location of the spermathecal pores are not of suffi- 

 cient value to distinguish japonica from grahatni. Even if Chen be 

 correct with regard to these two points, other differences enumerated 

 above {vide remarks under D. grahami) are important enough to 

 justify the specific distinction of the two forms. 



Just recently 6 aclitellate and juvenile specimens from Murree in 

 the northwestern Himalayas have been examined. Although there 

 are no free ova in segment xi and the ovisacs are obviously juvenile, 

 two rodlike appendices are present in each of these specimens. The 

 portion of the ovisac corresponding to that usually present in species 

 of Drawida is as yet scarcely differentiated. The appendices extend 

 into XXV in one specimen, into xviii in another, and in each specimen 

 pass ventrally to the parietes near the nerve cord either on their own 

 sides or after crossing to the opposite side under the dorsal blood 

 vessel. 



