343 



ment ; this segment nsually carries the openings of the oviducts, and the 

 structures regarded by Ferri er as copulatory pouches are also ano- 

 malous in that they are placed behind the testes, instead of being placed 

 in front of them, as in the majority of earthworms, or in the same seg- 

 ments, as \Tx Lumbricus. In the paper referred to above Mr. Perrier 

 describes the copulatory pouch as consisting of a tube which terminates 

 in a wide cul-de-sac ; to this are attached i greffés) ( 1) a slender tube much 

 contorted and (2) a small spherical body, the ovary; in one species {E. 

 peregrinus) there is an additional structure in the shape of a small 

 glandular body which is situated like the ovary upon the peduncle of 

 the copulatory pouch. This description is accompanied by a figure 

 which shows the ovary attached by a short stalk to the peduncle of the 

 copulatory pouch just opposite to the entrance of the long tubular di- 

 verticulum. Mr. P errier does not say in so many words that the ovary 

 is actually continuous with, opens into, the copulatory pouch, but I 

 suppose from his description that this is intended. In any case this 

 very important divergence from the ordinary type of structure has not 

 been referred to by writers of text books, and the matter appeared to be 

 worth going into again. In a species of this genus, which I cannot 

 differentiate from those described by Mr.Perrier, I have found by dissec- 

 tion and by a study of complete series of transverse sections that the 

 ovary is actually continuous Avith a long coiled oviduct; this latter is 

 evidently the , diverticulum' of the copulatory pouch described by 

 Perrier; the ovary is therefore not, so to speak, sessile upon the pe- 

 duncle of the copulatory pouch, but is connected with it by this long 

 coiled oviduct. Besides this oviduct I could find no trace of any 

 structure which could possibly represent the tubular coiled diverticu- 

 lum described by Perrier. If the species, to which the present note 

 refers, is really identical Avith one of those described by Perrier — 

 and I cannot distinguish it either by external characters or structure 

 from E. peregrinus — I may fairly claim to have been the first to record 

 this anomalous fact; Mr. Perrier's figure can only, on this hypothesis, 

 represent a lucky guess, partly expressing the truth. I am able to confirm 

 his description of a small accessory glandular body which opens oppo- 

 site to the oviduct, in fact exactly as is shown in Plate II fig. 26 of 

 his Memoir; in this particular figure however there is some doubt 

 expressed in the text as to the identity of the body lettered o Avith an 

 ovary and I am myself inclined to regard it as the little glandular body 

 above referred to. In one species the ovary has been identified by 

 Perrier without any doubt. 



In transverse sections the ovary was seen to be invested in a tunic 

 of fibrous tissue which was directly continuous with a long coiled tube 



