DESCRIPTIONS OF EARTHWORMS. 141 



In Monilig. japonicus ^) Micbaelsen believes to have found 

 concretions of carbonate of lime in those dilatations of the 

 intestine. The real sacculated intestine commences about 

 segment XXX. 



The dorsal vessel is single ; commissural vessels are 

 present in segments IV — X. Only those in segments VIII, 

 IX and X are highly dilated. 



The nephridia of our worm (fig. 2) , like in other Mo- 

 nilic/aster-species , resemble those of Monilig. Houtenii \ they 

 also possess a long, wide, muscular diverticulum, but the 

 excretory duct is shorter and not so slender. Where the 

 diverticulum passes into the excretory duct, the nephridial 

 tube is constricted and connected with the glandular part 

 of the organ , which shows a large loop , of which the 

 limbs are spirally wound around each other. The nephridia 

 appear to commence in segment III, for in front of the 

 fourth septum I observed two pairs of them ; they do not 

 occur however in all the following segments, for they are 

 absent in segment IX and X , in the space between the shifted 

 septa IX/X and X/XI and also in segment XIII and XIV. 



A pair of large spermathecae are situated in segment 

 VIII along the sides of the oesophagus; each spermatheca 

 (fig. 3 , sp.) consists of a pear-shaped sac , which opens on 

 to the exterior by a long and delicate, sinuous duct. In 

 Monilig. indicus ^) the duct appears not to open directly on 

 the exterior , but first to pass into a bilobed sac , with 

 thick muscular coat, which Benham believes to correspond 

 to both the pyramidal organs of Monilig. Deshayesi^ des- 

 cribed by Perrier. 



On opening the worm , the male generative organs directly 

 strike the attention by their enormous dimensions ; they 

 consist of a pair of vesiculae seminales and a pair of pro- 

 stata-glands , which occupy a large part of the coelomic 

 cavity of segments X, XI and XII. The two seminal vesi- 

 cles are entirely independent of one another , each of them 



1) Archiv f. Naturgesch., 1892, p. 24. 



2) loc. cit., figs. 3 and 5. 



Notes from the Leyden IMuseum, Vol. XVI. 



