398 FRANK E. BEDDARD. 



preserved material, for which I am indebted to Professor 

 Parker, of Otago. One of the numerous specimens which he 

 sent me was so preserved that the nuclei, not only of the 

 nephridia but of the tissues generally, were stained dark yellow, 

 and could not be subsequently stained by borax carmine ; 

 accordingly the nuclei were extremely conspicuous in such pre- 

 parations ; and as the nuclei of the nephridial tubules differed 

 in size and shape from other nuclei (e.g. those of peritoneal 

 cells and blood- capillaries), the course of the tubules through 

 the body walls could be easily followed. It must not, how- 

 ever, be inferred that such drawings (e. g. fig. 1) in the plate 

 as illustrate the structure of the nephridial tubules are imagi- 

 nary, except as concerns the nuclei. They are in every case 

 accurate drawings, so far as I could make them ; but the con- 

 spicuous nuclei drew my attention to the delicate inconspicuous 

 walls of the tubule, which would otherwise almost inevitably 

 have been overlooked. 



The nephridia are arranged, as already stated, in tufts of 

 tubules, closely adherent to the body wall (see figs. 2, 3) ; 

 their structure is much like that of other earthworms; they 

 consist of tubules with an intracellular duct, some (fig. n') 

 larger than others (fig. n). The nephridial tufts are supplied 

 with abundant blood-capillaries, upon some of which are those 

 curious dilatations to which Lankester first drew attention in 

 Lumbricus. In spite of the most careful search I have 

 hitherto failed to find any trace of the internal openings of 

 the nephridia. 



The external orifices, however, are obvious enough. The 

 disposition of these is illustrated in figs. 1,2, 3. Figs. 1, 2, 3 

 represent actual sections, or rather are compiled from a number 

 of sections. Fig. 15 is schematic, and represent what I 

 believe to be the general arrangement of the nephridia in 

 certain segments of the body. 



Figs. 2, 3 are copied from sections through certain of the 

 post-clitellar segments, fig. 1 the 8th or 9th. 



It will be noticed that the external pores are decidedly more 

 numerous in the anterior segments of the body, while in the 



