250 FRANK E. BEDDARD. 



•'' spermatothecse ^' are, as in Libyodrilus,^ for example, 

 coelomic pouches, which have acquired a connection with the 

 exterior ; such pouches occur apparently in all Eudrilids, and 

 indeed are the most characteristic feature of that group of 

 Oligochseta. They may, as in Hyperiodrilus,^ contain a 

 true spermatotheca. I have failed after careful search to find 

 anything of the kind in the present species. The anterior 

 end of the spermatothecal sac becomes connected with the 

 efferent apparatus of the female organs in a way that hardly 

 differs from Polytoreutus coeruleus. Fig. 7 illustrates the 

 several organs as seen in a glycerine preparation ; the results 

 obtained by these means were checked by a comparison with a 

 series of sections. The end of the spermatothecal sac is con- 

 nected with a somewhat contorted tube which opens freely into 

 its interior ; this tube has thick muscular walls and a lining of 

 ciliated epithelium ; it passes into a wide chamber {E. s.) 

 which lies close to the receptaculum (R. o.) ; with this is con- 

 nected the oviducal funnel opening into the interior of the re- 

 ceptaculum and the oviduct, which passes in a straight line to 

 the oviducal pore upon the 14th segment ; the wide chamber 

 also seems to give rise to a few csecal tubes in which are lodged 

 bundles of spermatozoa such as Michaelsen has figured^ in 

 Polytoreutus coeruleus. The region of the spermatotheca 

 into which the oviducts open presumably lodges the ovaries, 

 but I have not been able to see these organs ; they are possibly, 

 as in Libyodrilus,^ only present in younger stages, and after- 

 wards disappear. This region of the spermatotheca] sac, how- 

 ever, contains an immense mass of spermatophores, which have 

 the form illustrated in fig. 11. The spermatophores are of 



1 " On the Structure of an Earthworm allied to Nemertodrilus, Mich., 

 with Observations upon the Post-embryonic Development of Certain Organs," 

 ' Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci.,' vol. xxxii. 



' " On the Structure of the Two New Genera of Earthworms belonging to 

 the Eudrilidae, and some Remarks on Nemertodrilus," 'Quart. Journ. 

 Micr. Sci.,' vol. xxxii. 



3 Loc. cit., Bd. ix, Taf. iv, fig. 30, sL 



* Loc. cit., vol. xxxii, p. 568. 



