80 WILLIAM BLAXLAND BENHAM. 



the reservoir. I think, therefore, that the worms are not 

 quite genitally mature. 



The ovaries have the same position as before, — on the 

 posterior face of the anterior septum of somite xiii. On the 

 opposite face of this septum, and lying therefore in the pre- 

 ceding somite, is the funnel of the oviduct ; this is the organ 

 marked '^ x'^ in the figures illustrating my paper on M. Rappi.^ 



It seems at first sight somewhat peculiar that this should be 

 the case ; the same sort of arrangement has, however, been men- 

 tioned by Beddard for Megascolex (Pleurochseta).^ And 

 in many sections an appearance is presented which, I think, 

 allows no doubt that this interpretation is correct. 



The oviduct has not such a folded appearance, nor is the 

 edge fringed by narrow lobes as in M. Rap pi. By following 

 the duct through a continuous series of transverse sections I 

 was able to trace it from its external pore up to its internal 

 expanded funnel, which is closely attached to the septum 

 XII — XIII, which is itself perforated (fig. 10). The appearance 

 represented in the figure was repeated in several sections ; the 

 ovary is seen on one side of the septum lying in somite xiii, 

 and the edge of funnel, formed of columnar cells (doubtless 

 ciliated, though the sections do not show thisj on the other 

 side of the septum in somite xii. There is a perforation in the 

 septum, or rather the septum is here incomplete, allowing ova 

 to pass through it into the duct. 



I was unable to find the structure which is marked " y " in 

 my previous paper. Beddard has noticed a structure in a 

 similar position in Ac. dissimilis and other species^ re- 

 peated in the two somites in front of the true ovary, and he 

 suggests that they may be remnants of two pairs of ovaries ', 

 indeed in one specimen one of these structures contained ova. 



The spermathecse show a remarkable and interesting 

 difference from the arrangement seen in M. Rappi. In that 

 species they consist of four rows of from one to four small 



1 This Journal, February, 1886, PI. XV, fig. 4 ; PI. XVI, figs. 7 and 14. 



2 ' Trans. Royal Soc. Edinb.,' xxx, 1883, p. 481. 



3 'Proc. Zool. Soc.,'1885, p. 827. 



