No. 3.] ORGANS IN PHASCOLOSOMA GOULDII. 391 



of the multicellular glands are in direct connection with nerve 

 fibers. This view, which harmonizes with that of Andrews, 

 seems to me untenable, and to be due to the lack of special 

 nerve methods. 



Jourdan ('91), who investigated the peripheral sensory and 

 glandular organs of several Gephyreans, has given a detailed 

 account of the sensory apparatus of these worms, and figures 

 some conditions which present interesting similarities to the 

 condition which I have found in Phascolosoma Gouldii. In case 

 of Sipunculus nudus he finds several types of glandular organs 

 which possess no sensory cells, and also certain organs which 

 contain both sensory and glandular cells ; these sensory cells 

 he describes and figures as possessing sense hairs which pass 

 through the cuticula, and as being supplied by nerve fibers. 



Technique of the Methylene-Blue Method. 



The methylene-blue method was employed as follows : a con- 

 siderable quantity of B. X. methylene blue was injected into 

 the bodies of several freshly dug worms. The worms were not 

 previously narcotized, and after injection were returned to the 

 dishes of sea water and put away in a dark place for three and 

 a half or four hours. Then an examination was made by cut- 

 ting out small pieces from the body wall and observing them in 

 sea water under a cover-glass. When the fresh tissue showed 

 evidence that the right reaction had taken place, the blue color 

 was fixed by the ammonium molybdate method of Bethe ('96). 

 The tissue, after being imbedded in paraffin, was cut into sec- 

 tions from 30 /i to 50 yu, in thickness, and the sections were 

 mounted in balsam. Some of these sections were afterwards 

 stained with alum carmine. It was necessary, in order to obtain 

 favorable results, to use freshly dug worms. Specimens which 

 had been in the laboratory for more than one day, even if 

 kept in running sea water, did not, in any case, give positive 

 results. 



