NEW GENERA AND SPECIES OF EARTHWORMS. 251 



considerable length, and are coiled into an inextricable tangle. 

 Each spermatophore is wider at one end ; the spermatozoa are 

 attached by their heads to a central core of a clear appearance, 

 which is but faintly stained by borax-carmine. In transverse 

 sections (fig. 12) the whole of the anterior end of the sac is 

 seen to be filled with these spermatophores, which are cut in 

 difierent directions. It is very interesting to notice the pecu- 

 liar form of these spermatophores ; peculiar, that is to say, as 

 compared with other earthworms. They bear, on the other 

 hand, a very close resemblance to the spermatophores of 

 Tubifex^ in course of formation. The immense number of 

 spermatophores may perhaps be the cause of the enormous de- 

 velopment of the sperm-holding apparatus ; I found the 

 spermatophores throughout the entire series of sacs which 

 communicate with the female generative pore. In those 

 Eudrilids (e. g. Eudrilus itself) where there are not spermato- 

 phores of this kind, the sacs are very much less developed. 

 Michaelsen thinks that in Stuhlmannia variabilis the 

 large size of these pouches is connected with viviparity. This 

 would be a highly interesting fact were it proved. Michaelsen 

 found in the interior of the spermatothecal sacs of this species 

 granular masses which seemed to be surrounded with a peri- 

 pheral layer of cells ; naturally Dr. Michaelsen could not speak 

 positively of the nature of these bodies, but he suggests that 

 they may be embryos in course of development. I have exa- 

 mined the same species, and find that the large unpaired sac of 

 Stuhlmannia contains only a mass of spermatozoa not 

 agglutinated to form spermatophores. The circular canal sur- 

 rounding the intestine, and also in communication with the 

 median sac, is filled with what appears to be disintegrating 

 spermatozoa, around which are numerous cells ; but it is easy 

 to see in my preparations that these cells are not ova, and 

 that they have no relation to any embryonic structures ; they 

 are simply " lymph-corpuscles," the function of which, as it 

 appears to me, is merely that of getting rid of dead or per- 



1 ' System und Morphologie der Oligochaeten,' Taf. x, figs. 12 and 15, 



