W. W. Smith. — On New Zealand Earthivorms. 173 



ou the other hand, present upon the seventeenth segment ; and 

 the sperm-duct pores He a httle to the outside of and in front 

 of these seta3 ; their position, therefore, corresponds more 

 accurately to that of the spermatothecal pores than do those 

 of the atria. 



" The internal structure does not present any special points 

 of interest, being, on the whole, very similar to that of the 

 other New Zealand Acanthodrili . 



"The nephridia are alternate in position, as in ^. dis- 

 similis ; this peculiarity is confined, as regards the genus 

 Acanthodrilus, to the New Zealand species. 



"The dorsal blood-vessel is single ; there are four pairs of 

 dilated hearts, the last of which is in segment xiii. 



"The alimentary canal is furnished with a rudimentary 

 gizzard, which needs a microscopical examination for its. 

 demonstration ; such as it is, it lies in segment v. There are 

 no conspicuous calciferous glands, but in segments xiv. and 

 XV. the oesophagus becomes wider, and its lining membrane 

 much folded and very vascular. This region evidently cor- 

 responds to the calciferous glands of other earthworms ; all 

 doubt upon the matter appears to be removed by the discovery 

 of crystals exactly similar to those which occur in the calci- 

 ferous glands of other Oligochceta. The vascularity of the 

 oesophagus is not limited to these two segments ; from the 

 tenth segment onwards its walls are vascular, though not so 

 folded as in the two segments xiv. and xv. The intestine 

 commences on the eighteenth segment. 



"The gonads occupy the usual position; the sperm-sacs 

 are in segments ix., x., xi., xii. The atria are like those of 

 other Acantliodrilidce , and each is provided with a bundle of 

 penial setse. These setse are recurved at the extreme end ; 

 the extremity has two delicate wing-like processes, which, 

 when the seta is viewed from above, give to the end an oval 

 contour ; the tip of the seta in this aspect is seen to be bifid. 

 The absence of any ornamentation upon the setai appears to 

 distinguish the New Zealand Acanthodrilidce, with the excep- 

 tion of Octochcstus antarctic^is , where it is only very slight. 



"■ The sperniatothecaB are, as is nearly universally the case 

 with the Acanthodrilidce {Acanthodrilus (Dijjlocardia) com- 

 munis is, so far as I am aware, the only exception), two pairs 

 situated in segments viii. and ix. Each pouch has three small 

 diverticula, one of which is constantly in front of the septum." 



Acanthodrilus paludosus, Beddard. Pro. Zool. Soc. Lond., 



1892, p. 677. 



Although the first specimens of this species — the smallest 

 of the known native Acanthodrilidce — were found in a marsh, 

 I have found them in the fine, damp, sandy soil near the river- 



