280 WILLIAM BLAXLAND BENHAM. 
Oviduct.—I could not identify any structure as the 
oviduct. 
b. The Spermathece.—In somites xu, x11, xiv, and xv, 
close to the anterior septa, and immediately outside the nephri- 
dia, are a number of small, whitish, horseshoe-shaped bodies 
(spth.) (Pl. XV, figs. 2, 4). These I found to contain sperma- 
tozoa, of the same shape as in Lumbricus, and I therefore con- 
clude that these curious organs are spermathece (Pl. XVI, 
figs. 9,10). Each consists of a sac lined by columnar cells, 
and surrounded by two sets of circular muscles at right angles 
to each other. The number varies, both in the somites, and 
on each side of the same somite; the average is three on each 
side, though in somite xv there were four on one side and 
three on the other, whilst in somite x11, only two were present 
on each side. They are not all the same shape, some being 
U-shaped, and some being w-shaped. THach of these has a 
separate opening to the exterior, those of one somite all being 
in a line at the anterior edge of that somite; their external 
pores can be seen only by cutting through the body wall 
along this line, where their white colour shows where they 
open, or by means of sections through this region. Their pores 
are mostly outside, that is dorsad, of the nephridiopores, though 
in one or two cases the innermost spermatheca is in a line 
with the nephridiopores. Their position behind the other 
genital organs is very peculiar. The only other worm of which 
I can find a description of such a condition is Eudrilus 
decipiens, E. P. (14), which has spermathece in the next 
somite behind the testicular sacs; but none has so large a 
number, that is, twenty-two to twenty-four; nor of so small a 
size, viz. about one twelfth of an inch across the ends of the 
horseshoe. Their small size is perhaps related to their large 
number, but the position of some of them behind the ovary is. 
certainly very striking. 
c. Certain doubtful Structures.—(a) On the septum 
between somites x1r and x11, on the opposite side of the 
septum to that on which the ovary lies, that is to say, in somite 
XII, is a rosette-shaped organ (x) (figs. 2, 4, and 7). When 
