On an Audndian Land Nemertine. 115 



which attfiins a very hirge size before i-eachitig maturity. Tlie 

 most remarkable tact about the capsule is that in life, as 

 seen on examining crushed prejmrations. it has a very distinct 

 green colour, strongly suggestive of the pi-esence of chloro- 

 phyll. Tiie ovum itsel+" is colourless, but is seen to be 

 sunounded by a capsule composed of numerous small, 

 yellowish-green, granular masses. This I carefully observed 

 in two living specimens from different localities. Whether 

 or not chlorophyll is really present I am unable at present 

 to say, but judging from the analogy of Gonvoluta it seems 

 not altogether impos.sible. A very tempting field for 

 speculation is thus opened, but until we know whether the 

 green colouring matter is really chlorophyll or some other 

 substance it is perhaps best to keep silence. 



The ova, as already stated, grow to a very large size, 

 measuring up to about 06 mm. in diameter. It seems to me 

 almost impossible that they should be discharged through 

 the narrow, preformed genital ducts. I believe that they 

 escape by rupture of the body wall and that the ducts merely 

 serve to conve}^ spermatozoa to them. That these ducts do 

 so convey the spermatozoa I conclude from the fact that I 

 have found spermatozoa in them. Probably the ]3rocess of 

 fertilization is effected by the male crawling over the female 

 and passing out the sperm as he crawls. 



The reproductive organs of the male (Fig. 25) are found 

 in the same position as those of the female, nameh^ along 

 the sides of tlie body above the lateral nerve cords. They 

 also bear, at any rate when mature, a striking i-esemblance 

 to those of the female in structure. In the earlier stages of 

 their development, however, I have only been able to find 

 irregular masses of sperm-mother-cells in various stages of 

 division (Fig. 25, sp. vi. c), without, so far as I could see, 

 any distinct capsule or genital duct. Later on, however, we 

 find densely packed, rounded masses of sjiermatozoa (Fig. 25, 

 te.) each enclosed in a very delicate capsule, wliicli opeiis to 

 the exterior through a slender duct (Fig 25, v. d.) exactly as 

 in the female. After the spermatozoa have been discharged 

 the capsule is still recognisable as a shrunken bag (Fig. 25, te. 

 ca.) in who.se thin wail nuclei are distinctly visible, and this 

 bag appears simply as a large dilatation on the inner end of 

 the genital duct. The testes are, like the ovaries, extremely 

 numerous, and occur thickly scattered along the sides of. the 

 bod3^ As to the origin of the ova and spermatozoa I have 



