462 THOS. H. MONTGOMERY jr. 
whole lining of the uteri produce ova; and even though such ova 
degenerate, and the definitive ova are produced only within the di- 
verticula, this is sufficient to show the physiological correspondence 
of the uteri and the diverticula (ovaries in the narrow sense). In the 
Gordiacea then, there are a pair of long tubular ovaries (or uteri 
in the narrow sense), with numerous strictly paired diverticula (ovaries 
in the narrow sense); these diverticula are so numerous (3000 to 
4000 on each side in an adult Paragordius) that they cannot be called 
metameric, for we know no animal forms comprising so many meta- 
meres (here the Cestoda are not considered). 
In respect to the genitalia, accordingly, the Gordiacea resemble 
much more the Nematoda than the Annelida: they are essentially 
tubular and non-metameric. And until it can be shown that the cavity 
of these tubular testes and ovaries is a portion of a true coelom, 
there can be no true comparison with the Annelida; indeed the 
anatomial relations of the adult, and VEIDOVSKY’s own interpretations 
of the nature of the body cavities proper of the Gordiacea, would 
show the cavities of the genitalia to be extra-coelomic. 
As to the body-cavities, there are found in both sexes a medio- 
dorsal and a medio-ventral cavity, and in the female a pair of lateral 
cavities; in the female these spaces are separated by two dorso-ventral 
mesenteries, and the dorsal and ventral divergence of these mesenteries 
occasions the median cavities, and each mesentery embraces a uterus. 
Each lateral body cavity is bounded by a layer of parenchym termed 
by VEJDovVskY “peritoneum”, by me “perienteric membrane”. Now 
undoubtedly such relations are not found in the Nematoda, where 
there are no mesenteries and where the body cavity has no proper 
cellular lining. VEJDOvSKŸ finds in these cavities, at least in the lateral 
ones, homologa of the coelomic sacks of Annelida, and he com- 
pares the mesenteries directly with those of Annelida. But there is 
an important difference in the Gordiacea: the lateral cavities are not 
segmented in any way nor are they transversed by dissepiments; and 
while each lateral cavity has a cellular lining (laterally the perienteric 
membrane and medially the wall of a mesentery) the germinal epi- 
thelium does not come from this lining, but from the internal wall of 
the uterus which is entirely closed from these lateral cavities. Further, 
the mesenteries do not embrace the intestine closely, but are widely 
separated from it. These are differences of considerable importance, 
and though VEJDOVSKY’s interpretation of these cavities was very 
acute and suggestive, it is in my opinion by no means probable that 
