362 CARL VOGT. 



From watching the movements of the fsecal matter (carmine) 

 within the vestibule, the author has assured himself that there 

 is no partition or floor between the hood and the vestibule, and 

 that there is, therefore, no ground whatever for identifying the 

 latter with a general cavity of the body. 



The Reproductive Organs. 



The author has no doubt that the species which he has investi- 

 gated is dioecious ; Schmidt and Nitsche, on the contrary, regard 

 the Loxosomas as hermaphrodite.' The generative organs in 

 their earliest condition occupy the same position in both sexes ; 

 but the course of their development is different in each. 



The male. — Viewed on the ventral side, the male polypides 

 exhibit, in the median line of the body and between the tenta- 

 cular corona above and the stomach below, a thick- walled vesicle, 

 almost circular in shape, which is usually filled with a number of 

 filiform zoosperms massed together. When the dorsal aspect is 

 in view, careful manipulation shows that the intestine lies above 

 it, as the oesophagus and the palmiform folds do, when the ventral 

 surface is uppermost. This central seminal vesicle is connected 

 on both sides by two very short canals, or rather perforations in 

 its thick wall (PI. XXII, fig. 3), with two large organs {t) placed in 

 pyramidal spaces lying between the tentacular crown, the lateral 

 extensions of the stomach and the skin. These organs vary in 

 appearance in different individuals (PI. XXII, figs. 2, 3,4). In 

 some cases, almost invisible from their transparency, they have in 

 others a distinctly cellular appearance, and almost look like 

 ovaries filled with minute nucleated ova. It is soon apparent, 

 however, that the contained cells bear no real resemblance to ova, 

 and further, that in the interior of the organs there is frequently 

 a hollow space, and that numerous zoosperms are moving about in 

 this cavity (PI. XXII, fig. 3), which communicates by the canal 

 just mentioned with the seminal vesicle. The Author has seen the 

 zoosperms passing through the canal into the vesicle, and has no 

 doubt that they originate in the cells composing the organs 

 referred to, which must, therefore, be regarded as testicles. 



According to Schmidt, the zoosperms make their way through 

 two trumpet-shaped tubes, lined with cilia, from the vesicle into 

 the ovary. The Author, on the contrary, has seen the mass of 

 intertwining zoosperms (?<), filling the vesicle, suddenly expelled by 

 a violent contraction of the whole animal (Pl.XXII, fig. 4). Driven 

 into the vestibule, it revolved rapidly on its axis for awhile, and 

 was ultimately launched into the water, where it disappeared. 

 The vesicle afterwards collapsed, and was hardly distinguishable. 



In the species investigated by Kowalewsky, the sexes are i-epresented 

 as distinct. — Transl. 



