248 FRANK E. BEDDAED. 



prostate nearer to the distal than to the proximal end. The 

 direct communication between the vasa deferentia and the 

 " prostate " appears to be the rule with Eudrilidse ; and this led 

 me to compare the so-called prostate in the terrestrial Oligo- 

 chaeta to the atrium of the Limicolous forms. Quite recently 

 Benham (6) has expressed himself against this identification, 

 but admits that ''a portion of the prostate in Pericheeta, 

 Eudrilus^ and other genera^ in which the sperm-duct and 

 prostate form is probably the homologue of the ' atrium ' of 

 Tubifex.'^ In this case half of the glandular portion of the 

 terminal organ of the vasa deferentia in Eudrilus, Hype- 

 riodrilusj &c., will be the equivalent of the '^ atrium/' while 

 the other half will be comparable to the '^ cementdruse " of 

 Tubifex! This will hardly do, for there is no structural 

 distinction between the two halves ; they form a continuous 

 whole. T need not recapitulate here the various intermediate 

 conditions which unite the E udril id 86 with other genera; it 

 appears to me impossible to draw a line between the '^ prostate " 

 glands of Perichgeta and those of Eudrilidse ; they are 

 obviously homologous structures. The name that is applied 

 to one must be applied to the other. 



There are no penial setse present. 



2. Female Generative Organs. — These organs seem to 

 be most like those of Stuhlmannia variabilis, which have 

 been briefly described by Michaelsen as follows : — '' The 

 orifice of the spermatheca situated in the middle ventral line 

 of Segment 13 leads into a wide atrium. From this is reached 

 an unpaired long sac-like crinkled spermatheca. From the 

 atrium arises on each side another spermatheca-like broad 

 canal. These two canals extend upwai'ds and fuse together 

 above the gut, forming in this way a single short sac, which 

 communicates with the atrium by a riug-like canal surrounding 

 the gut. Two greatly coiled oviducts, each furnished with a 

 receptaculum ovorum, open laterally on Segment 14. On the 

 other side they communicate with the spermatheca. The two 

 ovaries lie anteriorly in Segment 13. (They are connected by 

 narrow canals with the oviducts ?) " 



