52 EDWIN S. GOODRICH. 
vary glands (fig. 1, sa/. gl.) are unbranched and of considerable 
length. The nephridium (fig. 2) is compact, with a portion of 
the canal slightly coiled in the pre-septal region. The funnel 
of the sperm-duct is of moderate length and very thick-walled. 
The spermatheca has a distinct duct beset with glandular cells 
near its external aperture, and possesses a posterior blind 
sac (fig. 23, post. sac). Three chief varieties of corpuscles are 
found in the celom ; one of these bears a peculiar product in 
the shape of a coiled thread, to be described in detail further 
on. In a favourable light the cuticle can be seen in most 
specimens to be covered throughout with fine hair-like pro 
cesses (fig. 8,i.p.), similar to those described in Vermiculus(8). 
This species is probably distributed all over England, as I 
have found it near Oxford, London, and Weymouth. 
On the Nephridium of Enchytreus hortensis. 
I have thought it worth while to give in detail the results 
of observations carried on for some years on the nephridia, 
since not only does a great deal remain to be described in 
these interesting organs, notwithstanding the large number of 
authors who have written on the subject, but also on account 
of the recent publication by M. Bolsius of descriptions totally 
at variance with the observations of other naturalists and my 
own (4). 
As M. Bolsius gives an account of the literature, I need 
only say that former writers (Claparéde, Eisen, Vejdovsky, 
Michaelsen, Ude, &c.) all agree in describing the nephridium 
of Enchytreeids as consisting of a more or less compact mass 
of cells pierced by a continuous ciliated convoluted canal 
leading from the nephrostome to the exterior. Bolsius, on 
the contrary, declares that the lumen of the canal forms a 
complex network “ des canalicules anastomosés dans toutes les 
directions ;” and, moreover, that it is totally devoid of cilia: 
‘Les canalicules et le canal collecteur ont été dessinés par 
nous sans cils vibratiles : c’est que nous n’en avons pas trouvés, 
ou plutdt c’est que nous en avons constaté l’absence compléte 
dans nos nombreuses préparations.” Since the first of these 
