4.66 FRANK E. BEDDARD. 
capsulogenous glands. There are some facts which seem to me 
to favour this supposition, and some which are opposed to it. 
In describing the spermathece of Acanthodrilus (p. 435) 
it has been pointed out that the spermatozoa become embedded 
in granular masses which are formed by the metamorphosis of 
the lining epithelium of the spermathecal diverticula. I take 
it that the spermatophores of Acanthodrilus consist of little 
more than a number of these balls of granular substance con- 
taining spermatozoa compacted together. In no species of 
Pericheta that I have been able to examine (and I have 
studied mature specimens of a good many species) is there 
any such modification of the epithelium of the diverticula, 
although the spermatozoa are only found in the diverticula. 
It is possible, therefore, that here the diverticula have not yet 
assumed, or have lost, the function which their homologues in 
the Acanthodrilide perform. 
In this case, therefore, the formation of the spermatophores 
may be partly due to the epithelium of the spermathece ; hence 
the need for capsulogenous glands, which is satisfied by the 
abundant glandular development in the neighbourhood of the 
spermathecee. 
The spermathece of Pericheta on this hypothesis lie 
midway between Acanthodrilus and Lumbricus. 
Against regarding these glands of Pericheta as capsulo- 
genous glands is perhaps their development in the neighbour- 
hood of the atria as well as more anteriorly. This rather 
suggests that they may secrete a fluid serving to attach 
together the worms during copulation. 
At any rate, the presence of capsulogenous glands in Lum- 
bricus and Brachydrilus is correlated with the absence of 
diverticula. This statement does not apply to Microcheta, 
but as only four specimens of that worm have been dissected 
it is still far from certain that it does not possess any capsulo- 
genous glands. 
In Lumbricus and its allies the disappearance of the 
diverticula has resulted in the formation of special glands—the 
capsulogenous glands; in Brachydrilus and Microcheta it 
