188 



MEGASCOLEX INDICUS. 



Behind the oesophagus a large muscular stomach is to be 

 fount! , placed between the seventh and tenth septum ; the 

 eight and ninth dissepiment are wanting and instead of 

 them only some tendinous fibres extend from the intes- 

 tine to the body-wall. 



The four pair of copulatory pouches are situated in the 

 6th , 7th , 8th and 9th segment ; each pouch consists of 

 two parts: a large pear-shaped vesicle, opening outwards 

 by a short, thick- walled canal and a small oval one, 



To vindicate the justness ot my observation I may cite his own words from 

 the Compt. rend. T. LXIII, 1871, p. 278 (Sur I'organis. des vers da genre 

 Perichaeta): «dans I'Oesophage viennent s'ouvrir.- 1° Trois groupes deglandes, 

 appuyees sur les cloisons qui separent le troisième (?) anueau du sixième, le 

 sixième du septième et le septième du huitième: ces glandes sont formées de 

 tubes isolés, flottants, se recourbant en anses et dont les deux moitiés sont 

 enroulées en spirale Tune auteur de l'autre; 2° etc. 



Perrier also contends my assertion that not he but Ray Lankester firstly 

 observed in Lumbricus the vaisseaux lateraux (intestino-tegumentaires) ; his as- 

 sumption however that those vessels would have been observed firstly by d'Ude- 

 kem is not quite exact, the figure of d'Udekem relating on Perichaeta not on 

 Lumbricus, and that he really makes claim of priority on this point may be 

 prooved by his words: Bien que les recherches etc., tela par exemple que I'ex- 

 istence dans les Lombrics des troncs lateraux qui n'avaient jamais été 

 indiqués (Organ, des Uroehaeta p. 483). 



But I rather like to pass by these questions of priority, of so little value 

 for a scientific man , and prefere to call attention to some opinions in Perrier's 

 paper on Pontodrilus, which are quite contradictory to the results of the in- 

 vestigations of other authors. So on page 221 we read «car, outre que le 

 sang des Lombrics ne contient pas de corpuscules". Now I believe that Ray 

 Lankester by his investigations (Quart. Journ. Micr. Sc. Vol. XVIII, 1878 

 p. 68, pi. X) has convincingly shown the presence of corpuscules in the blood 

 of the Earthworm. Perrier also seems to doubt the exactness of the assertion, 

 that the glands of the Oesophagus (glands of Morren) secrete carbonate of 

 lime, because he says p. 200: on a designe qnelque-fois a tort ces glandes 

 sous le nom de glandes calcaires; elles n'en contiennent pas necessairement et 

 Ton ne voit pas d'ailleurs quel role le calcaire etc. However the presence of 

 lime in those glands is so often demonstrated by several investigators (Morren, 

 Ray Lankester, Claparèdc, and my self, Tijdschr. Ned. Dierk. Ver. Dl. Ill, 

 p. 49). that there is no question about its really existing, though the signifi- 

 cation of that product for the organism is dubious; and how is it possible to 

 deny the presence of some product in the animal organism, only because we 

 do not know its function? can we say for instance what is the function of 

 the crystalline stylet in the stomach of some LamellibrancliiataeV 



^otes t'rona the Leydcn TMusetim, Vol. V, 



