NOTES ON ACANTHODRILOID EARTHWORMS. 301 
mogaster by Fletcher;! and when I first examined the 
present worm I believed that the spiral appearance was 
merely due to contraction, causing the gut to bulge, first on 
one side and then on the other. But it is a true spiral, as 
can be seen by dividing the worm either longitudinally or 
transversely (Pl. XVI, figs. 17, 21). There is no typhlosole, 
nor are there any ceca, such as are found in most species of 
Pericheta. 
The nephridia are large, conspicuous (Pl. XVI, fig. 19), 
and alternate in position in correspondence with the position 
of the nephridiopores; the funnels, however, are always placed 
below the gut, and in line; they do not share in the alter- 
nation. The nephridium (Pl. XVI, fig. 22) presents the usual 
regions described by me for Lumbricus and other genera ;* 
the coils are arranged somewhat differently in the dorsal and 
ventral series, and there is a dilated cecal bladder, which is 
longer in the dorsal nephridia than in those of the ventral 
series. 
The funnel has the same general structure as in Pericheta 
malamaniensis—that is to say, there are no centripetal 
marginal cells; but whereas in that species all the eight 
cells are of the same size, in the present worm there is a 
difference in size, and an increase in number of the marginals, 
as in P. aspergillum. I append two figures (fig. 23, a, 6) 
representing two consecutive sections through a funnel; and 
from it there appears to be about sixteen marginals, which 
decrease in size on each side of the funnel. I am doubtful as 
to the presence here of a “central cell,”? and can readily 
believe that this is absent, as is the case in some Pericheta. 
The first full-sized nephridium in the second segment is in 
Somite 111; but there is a pair of rudimentary structures which 
are, I believe, degenerate nephridia. 
That on the left is a fairly typical though very small 
nephridium ; the one on the right is much less developed. 
This very minute organ only occupies some four or five 
1 ¢Proc. Linn. Soc.,’ N.S.W., 1886. 
2 This Journal, vol, xxxii, p. 293. 
