368 FRANK E. BEDDARD. 



Spermatheca?. — I examined my sections for a long time 

 without finding any evidence of the presence of spermathecse. 

 Finally, I succeeded in discovering in the 8th segment a struc- 

 ture which is illustrated in fig. 4 ; this consists of a minute 

 pouch (c.p.), lined with epidermic cells, and plainly formed as an 

 invagination of the epidermis, with which it is continuous. 

 This pouch would not, however, have been seen in a dissection 

 of the animal, because it only extends for a little way into the 

 thickness of the muscular layers of the body wall. I am dis- 

 posed to believe that it does represent a spermatheca, though 

 presumably in a very immature condition. This presumption 

 is strengthened by the fact that one at least of the ventral pair 

 of setee, near to which the pouch opens, is different in form 

 from the other seta? of the body, being thinner and longer (fig. 

 3 a). I found no traces of spermathecse in any but the 8th 

 segment. Without assuming that there is only a single pair 

 of spermatheca? present in the adult Allurus, I may point out 

 that the position of these organs — situated in front of the testes, 

 vasa deferentia funnels, and seminal reservoirs — is only found 

 in such Lumbricidse as Allolobophora complanata where 

 there are a large number of pairs of these organs; further- 

 more, it is important to note that they do not in Allurus open 

 on to the intersegmental furrow, but in the middle of the 

 segment to one side of the setae. 



The alimentary tract presents no features of special 

 interest. The gizzard is placed at the junction of the oeso- 

 phagus and the intestine, as in the Lumbricida?, and is 

 preceded by a crop. It differs, however, from that of 

 Lumbricus in only occupying a single segment, the 17th. 

 Its structure, as shown in longitudinal section, is illus- 

 trated in fig. 9. At present there are no materials for a 

 comparison of the minute structure of the gizzard in different 

 forms. I give the figure because it is unlike any figure con- 

 tained in Claparede's c Memoir 1 on the Histology of the Earth- 

 worm/ and also because it does not agree with preparations of 



1 ' Zeitsclir. f. wiss. Zoo!.,' 1869. 



