70 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. XY, 



cell-mass penetrated by numerous canals and lacunae. The cells are 

 thickened peritoneal epithelium ; their nuclei are similar to those of 

 the peritoneal cells on the one hand, and those of the leucocytes on the 

 other ; the outer cells of the gland form rounded projections into the 

 peritoneal cavity. Foreign bodies and parasites are found in the glands, 

 and also setae covered with a thick layer of leucocytes ; in addition to 

 the leucocytes, which make up the bulk of the cells of the glands, there 

 are also large clear cells, with small deeply staining and apparently 

 shrivelled nucleus ; these are sometimes full of small round refractile 

 granules, and mostly occur in small aggregates surrounded by leucocytes ; 

 they are probably dead chloragogen cells. Fresh chloragogen cells are 

 also present in the glands. The author obviously considers the gland- 

 cells to be merely heaped around the supposed opening in the septum. 

 He also describes similar organs in certain Lumbricidae, and performed a 

 number of interesting physiological experiments in order to ascertain 

 the function of the glands ; he comes to the conclusion that they 

 are phagocytic organs. 



Schneider introduced the name " lymph-glands " for these struc- 

 tures, which is quite appropriate. 



Lloyd {An Introduction to Biology for Students in India, 1910) after 

 describing the naked-eye characters of the organs, says " The function 

 of these glands is unknown ; they consist of a mass of nucleated cells, 

 which may be blood cells, or phagocytes in a state of development." 

 He calls them " blood glands," an unsuitable term, which had better be 

 dropped, especially as there are definite blood glands in some species of 

 Pheretima (Lloyd's " oesophageal glands "). 



METHODS. 



The technique employed was the following : — The dissections made 

 in order to describe the form and situation of the glands were made under 

 the binocular dissecting microscope. The worms for sectioning were 

 kept for a week and fed during this time on damp blotting paper renewed 

 daily ; they were then narcotized, and fixed in 10 per cent, formalin 

 for 24 hours, then washed and passed through graded alcohols ; some were 

 cut into pieces and fixed in warm sublimate and acetic for an hour, 

 then washed several times in distilled water and passed through graded 

 alcohols. 



The sections were first overstained with Delafield's haematoxylin 

 and then differentiated in acidulated water (five drops HCl to 100 cc. 

 distilled water ; I used acidulated water in preference to acid alcohol 

 because in the latter case there is no graduated and regular transference 

 of the sections from a watery to an alcoholic medium). After passing 

 through graded alcohols up to 90 per cent, the sections were counter- 

 stained in alcoholic eosin (1 per cent, eosin in 90 per cent, alcohol for one 

 minute), then dehydrated and cleared in the usual way. 



I also used Dobell's iron-haematein method {Arch. Protistenkunde, 

 XXXIV, 1914). Films of the coelomic fluid, which I examined in the 

 course of my work, were fixed in either sublimate or absolute alcohol, 

 and stained in a similar manner to the sections. 



