DESCRIPTIONS OF EARTHWORMS. 255 



for in transverse sections I found the epithelium in this 

 portion of the duct differing very much from that in the 

 remaining part. In stead of the epithelium , composed of 

 high , columnar cells and covered by a cuticular membrane 

 that lines the greatest part of the duct, I found in the 

 protuberance an internal layer of cells, which not only 

 want the cuticular membrane , but are also lower and 

 broader, and which contain numerous large, clear bubbles 

 of different shape, probably the products of secretion. 



The curious sausage-shaped glandular bodies, observed 

 by Beddard in some of his specimens of Ac. Layardi, 

 next to the modified setae in the 8th segment, I have 

 been unable to find, and the inconstancy of these struc- 

 tures makes it evident for me , that they have no great 

 morphological importance. However I observed in the 7th 

 and 8th ring several small , white vesicles , irregularly dis- 

 tributed and attached to the internal side of the body- 

 wall. As to the function of these bodies, which I could 

 not yet examine in transverse sections, I dare only say 

 that I do not believe they represent a normal part of the 

 organism of the earthworm, but I rather suppose they 

 are strange organisms, perhaps belonging to some or other 

 species of the Gregarinidae. 



In the 11th and 12th ring — not in the 12th and 13th, 

 as erroneously stated before — a pair of flat, faintly lo- 

 bated bodies are to be found, attached to the posterior 

 side of the anterior segment (fig. 1 , vs). I was first in- 

 clined to take them for the real testes in an immature 

 state, till I succeeded to detect in the 10th and 11th seg- 

 ment , exactly in front of the funnels of the vasa deferen- 

 tia, a glandular body, attached to the posterior side of the 

 anterior segment, on either side of the nerv^e-cord. These 

 glands, not only in their situation but also in their form , 

 correspond to the ovaries (see afterwards) ; they consist of 

 a great number of digitately arranged lobes (fig. 5). Each 

 lobe consists of polygonal cells, containing a granular 

 protoplasma with a nucleus and a well-marked nucleolus 



Notes from the Leyden JMuseum, Vol. IX. 



