[Proc. Eot. Soc. Victoria, 22 (N.S.), Vr. IT., 1009.] 



Airr XVI. — Note on the Accessovi/ Glands "^^y^^'in"!"^ 

 Crtjptodrilus sdccariu!^ (Fletclter). /Cs^^O^^'VN 



By GWYNNETH BUCHANAN, B.Sc. (u-i ( L i ,^ 



(With Plate XLIIf.). 

 [Read 9th December, 1009] 



These structures are present close to the male and female 

 genital openings, though they are more numerous near the 

 latter. Their arrangement seems to be in four main groups, 

 one between segments 12 and 1.3, one on 18 between the male 

 openings, one between 21 and 22, and one between 22 and 2-3. 

 In one specimen, however, that in Avhich the groups of gland 

 cells were most numerous on LS, there was a very small and 

 inconspicuous structure between 18 and 19. 



The accessory gland between segments 12 and 13 may l)e 

 taken as typical, since they all have the same histological struc- 

 ture, differing only in the number of patches of glandular cells 

 in one group. On the mid-ventral surface, on the depression be- 

 tween the segments, is an oval area, bounded by swollen lips, 

 in the middle of which are two rounded patches, marking the 

 glands themselves. As a rule chere are two of these patches 

 (Fig. 1), but they may be more numerous, as many as four in seg- 

 ment 18 being observed in one specimen (Fig. 2), while occa- 

 sionally, in the glands posterior to the male opening, there is 

 only one. It seems probable that the condition of the accessory 

 structures varies with the age of the worm, their number, how- 

 ever, being practically constant. In section the glandular 

 patches are seen to be flask-shaped structures, composed of 

 swollen, mucus-secreting cells, (Fig. 3, g.c), elongated at right 

 angles to the surface, and apparently each opening independently 

 to the exterior. The circular muscle of the body wall becomes 

 practically obliterated at this point, while glands of what ap- 

 pear to be connective tissue or muscle fibres pass out among 

 the epidermal cells, which are here elongated, as compared with 



