242 FRANK E. BEDDAED. 



These bodies have a striking resemblance to certain " end 

 organs" which are found among the Vertebrata; they are 

 particularly like the Pacinian bodies^ having the same con- 

 centric lamellse surrounding a central sheath. It is this 

 resemblance which makes me believe that the structures in 

 question are of a nervous nature, for I must confess to having 

 found no unmistakable evidence of nerve-fibres connected 

 with them. It is, however, not easy to trace the ramifica- 

 tions of nerves in the skin of earthworms which have been 

 preserved with alcohol.^ 



§ Alimentary Canal. 



In its main features the alimentary canal agrees with that 

 of Heliodrilus, to be presently described. 



The pharynx is large, and extends back to the 6th or 7th 

 segment; there is no anteriorly situated gizzard, but a series 

 of five or six, each occupying a single segment at the junction 

 of oesophagus and intestine. 



The oesophagus is lined with a thin chitiuous cuticle as far 

 back as the opening of the calciferous glands ; beyond this 

 point its walls are ciliated. 



§ Calciferous Glands. 



As in Eudrilus, and apparently other Eudrilidse, the pre- 

 sent genus is furnished with two kinds of calciferous glands. 



(1) A pair of voluminous glands are attached to the oeso- 

 phagus in Segment 13, the cavity of which they largely fill. 

 The oesophagus itself is very narrow in this region, scarcely 

 wider than the dorsal blood-vessel, which like it is completely 

 hidden by the large glands. These glands appear of a reddish- 

 purple colour in the spirit-preserved specimen, the colour 

 being of course due to the abundant blood-spaces interspersed 

 among the tissue of the glands. The glands have a trifid 

 appearance as in Eudrilus, and a large blood-vessel passes 

 over each. 



In transverse sections these paired calciferous glands are 



' Since the above was written Dr. Ilorst in a paper cited on p. 252, foot- 

 note, has suggested the sensory nature of tlie problematical structures. 



