Australian Eaithivorins. 237 



larger, with proportionally smaller and more muscular-looking 

 vesicles [Fig, 24], while those of the rest of the body have much 

 smaller coils, but the vesicles are large and have transparent 

 walls. [Fig. 25.] The vesicles form a most conspicuous feature 

 of the nephridial system, and the nephridia were of such large 

 size that their general arrangement could be seen microscopi- 

 c;illy. [Fig. L>3.] 



The parts seen are closely similar to the nephridia of 

 Wooihvardia cooraniensis, though in the case of F. nuicus there 

 is no alteration in the arrangement of the nephridia. 



The funnel (F) lies near the midventral line of the body, 

 opening l)etween the ventralmost seta and the nerve cord, and 

 connecting by a line thread passing through the septum, with 

 two portions — (1) a somewhat coiled tube Avhich ends blindly ; 

 and (2) a tine duct which connects with the large uuiscular 

 vesicle, which in its turn opens to the exterior. 



Microscopic Structure. — An examination of sections of this 

 earthworm shows that the funnel is composed of a single row 

 of marginal cells, columnar in shape, and ciliated. Figure 26 

 shows diagrammatically the various parts present. From the 

 funnel (F) a duct leads by means of a fine intracellular lumen 

 connecting with the main part of the nephridium, as mentioned 

 above. [Fig. 25, d, i.] This lumen can be distinctly traced 

 through the greater part of the long coil figured as c.n. [Fig. 26]. 

 But, as well as this somewhat straight lumen, there is a coiled 

 tube present, which apparently passes back from the blind end 

 (Y) along the whole length of the coil (c.n.), and then continues 

 as the fine intracellular duct (v.d.) leading to the bladder. 

 Unfortunately the histology of my series was not very good, 

 and I was unable to see the transition between the cells forming 

 the duct (v.d.), and the flattened cells forming the wall of the 

 bladder itself. Tlie opening of the vesicle to the exterior is 

 provided with a number of flattened, unstriated, vesicle cells, 

 forming a sphincter. The very thin Hat cells lining the vesicle, 

 pass into cubic epithelial cells, and these into the ordinary 

 epithelial cells of the outer body wall. This species somewhat 

 closely resembles Woodwardia cooraniensis [Fig, 21], except that 

 in the latter there is no such sphincter muscle present as I 

 have described above. 



