CHINESE EARTHWORMS — GATES 487 



Internal a/m/o//i7/.— Septa 5/6-7/8 are thickened; 8/9 membranous 

 but complete, bulged posteriorly into a funnel-shape by the gizzard ; . 

 10/11 membranous and apparently complete (1 specimen) present 

 ventrally only in others and unrecognizable in the remainder; 11/12- 

 12/13 membranous but slightly strengthened. 



The origin of the intestine is variable. In one specimen the 

 thick-walled, narrow, esophageal portion of the gut is continued into 

 xxvi, the thin-walled, grayish, wider intestinal portion of the gut 

 beginning abruptly with 26/27. In other specimens there is a more 

 gradual transition from the esophageal to the intestinal portion of 

 the gut, an abrupt widening such as is often present in xv, entirely 

 lackTng. The intestinal caeca are compound, glove-shaped, each 

 caecuni with 7-12 elongate, fingerlike, secondary caeca. The ventral- 

 most secondary caecum is the longest, the dorsalmost the shortest. 



The single heart of ix is on the left side (5 specimens) or on the 

 right side'ci specimen). The last pair of hearts is in xiii. The 

 hearts of ix-xiii all pass into the ventral vessel. 



The testis sacs of x and xi are unpaired and ventral. The seminal 

 vesicles are large, in contact transversely over the dorsal blood vessel 

 The prostates extend through xvii-xxi but may push 16/17 and 

 15/16 anteriorly. The prostatic duct is 7-10 mm long, bent into a 

 hairpin loop, the ectal limb much thicker than the ental limb. 



The spermathecal duct is stout, glistening, shorter than the am- 

 pulla, gradually narrowed in the parietes. The diverticulum passes 

 into the anterior face of the duct close to or actually within the 

 parietes and is composed of a slender, smooth, glistening, stalk por- 

 tion with a narrow lumen and an ovoidal, spheroidal, or elongate- 

 tubular, thin-walled, seminal chamber. The elongate-tubular seminal 

 chamber w^as found only in a worm very heavily parasitized by 

 coelomic Protozoa. 



In the parietes in the vicinity of the ectal end of the prostate ducts 

 there are glandular masses. 



Remarks. — Three specimens were badly mutilated, each broken 

 (though not quite through) in two places, one just anterior to the 

 clitellum and one just posterior to the clitellum. A fourth specimen 

 has several spiral abnormalities in the anterior region. The remain- 

 ing specimens, as well as some of those just mentioned, are heavily 

 pal-asitized by coelomic Protozoa and/or nematodes. In one of the 

 unbroken specimens the reproductive organs are very poorly pre- 

 served, in particular the seminal vesicles and the testis sacs. 



In this latter specimen the seminal vesicles of xi have the appear- 

 ance of being contained wnthin outgrowths of a testis sac, but the 

 preservation is too poor to permit an exact determination of the rela- 



