DESCRIPTIONS OF EARTHWORMS. 257 



quite as it is stated to be the case in Lumbricus , Peri- 

 chaeta , Microcliaeta and Criodrilus , according to the in- 

 vestigations of Hering , Bloomfield , Bergh , Benham , Rosa 

 and myself. I am much inclined to believe that Beddard , 

 in examining the New-Zealand species of Acanthodrilus , 

 has confounded the vesiculae seminales with the testes; for 

 his assertion, that the large racemose glands in the 11th 

 and 12th segment cannot be homologous with vesiculae 

 seminales , is based principally on their absolute indepen- 

 dance of the vasa deferentia, whereas according to Ray 

 Lankester's suggestion the seminal vesicles should originate 

 as outgrowths of the vas-deferens funnels; afterwards Bergh 

 however demonstrated that Lankester's supposition was er- 

 roneous and that the vesiculae seminales take their origine 

 entirely independent of the funnels of the sperm-ducts , by 

 evagination of the septum. It seems to me very probable 

 that Beddard , in reexamining his specimens , will find the 

 real testes ; perhaps the peculiar glands , homologous (?) with 

 ovaries , t,t' in the woodcut fig. 3 in his paper, will appear 

 to represent them. 



Ac. Schlegelii has the ovaries in segment 13, i. e. 

 next to that which contains the posterior pair of se- 

 minal vesicles ; they are attached to the anterior sep- 

 tum , next to the ventral middle line. The ovaries have 

 the appearance of a flattened body, consisting of numerous 

 radiately distributed lobes. Each lobe is not unlike to the 

 single ovary of Lumhricus. Its basal portion, that is at- 

 tached to the septum , consists of a mass of granular pro- 

 toplasma containing nuclei; to the distal extremity of the 

 lobe the eggs are more and more recognisable, and its free 

 end contains usually one or two large ripe eggs , enclosed 

 in a follicle , which are on the point of becoming free. In 

 Ac. ungidatus the ovaries have also been found in the 

 13th segment, and that they could escape the sharp scru- 

 tinizing eye of Beddard may be occasioned by their being 

 situated close to the median side of a nephridium , whose 

 radiating tuft of loops to the naked eye shows much resem- 



Notes from the Leyden M^useixm , "Vol. IX. 



