CHINESE EARTHWORMS — GATES 451 



The secondary spermatliecal apertures are transverse slits, four 

 pairs, on 5/6-8/9. 



In the setal circle of xviii on each side there is a transversely slit- 

 like depression. The margin of the slit is smooth and glistening. 

 External to the smooth circumferential lip there are several concen- 

 tric circumferential furrows. The male pores are tiny slits, each 

 pore on the roof of the depression and close to the median margin. 



There are no genital markings. 



Internal anatomy. — Septa 8/9-9/10 are lacking. 



The intestine begins in xv. The intestinal caeca are simple, but 

 from the ventral margin of the caecum there protrude ventrally sev- 

 eral short, stumpy, fingerlike lobes, the doi-soventral length of these 

 lobes is less than the dorsoventral diameter of the main portion of 

 the caecum. 



There is a single heart belonging to ix, on the left side. The last 

 pair of hearts is in xiii, AH hearts of ix-xiii pass into the ventral 

 blood vessel. 



On the anterior face of 10/11 is a pair of conical, anteriorly di- 

 rected, ventral testis sacs, the sacs not in contact but not widely sep- 

 arated. There is also a pair of ventral testis sacs in xi. The semi- 

 nal vesicles are vertical bodies, each with a primary ampulla reach- 

 ing to the dorsal blood vessel. In segment xiii is a pair of relatively 

 large pseudovesicles. The prostates extend through xvii-xix. The 

 prostatic duct is short, bent into a C-shape, the ectal portion thicker 

 than the ental portion. 



The spermathecae are juvenile. The coelomic portion of the duct 

 is of about the same thickness as the ampulla and of about the same 

 length, but within the parietes the duct becomes thicker and its lumen 

 wider. The diverticulum, wliich passes into the anterior face of the 

 duct in the parietes and which is as long as or slightly longer than 

 the duct and ampulla together, is slenderly tubular with just a slight 

 suggestion of a spheroidal widening of the ental end. 



Remarks^. — No parasites were found. The worm appears to be 

 normal. 



P. ignohiUs cannot be adequately characterized at present. It is, 

 however, distinguished from all octothecal Chinese species of Phere- 

 tima by the presence of spermathecal pore (parietal only?) invagi- 

 nations, with large, transversely slitlike, secondary, apertures. 



PHEBETIMA LIMELLA Gates 



1935. Pheretima limclla Gates, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 93, no. 3, p. 11 



(type locality: Suifn, Szechwan ; types in the U. S. National Museum). 



1936. Pheretima limclla Chen, Coutr. Biol. Lab. Sci. Soc. China, zool. ser., vol. 



11, pp. 272, 299 (Szechwan; after examination of type). 



