298 W. BLAXLAND BENHAM. 



off peripherally, and ciliated all over one surface. Goehlicli 

 describes and figures one or two rows of specially long cilia 

 radiating from the centre. These I have never seen, although 

 I have had under observation hundreds of nephridial funnels 

 in demonstrating to my students, and have examined carefully 

 dozens for this very purpose. The appearance figured by Goehlich 

 is due to a crumpling of the funnel — an action to which it is 

 liable on being covered by a glass slip, — so that there will be 

 caused radial folds, the cilia of which will then be seen side- 

 ways instead of from above, will therefore be more distinct, 

 and will appear longer. There are normally no such longer 

 cilia or such radiating lines. 



Another phenomenon, which, indeed, renders the interpreta- 

 tion of the central portion of the funnel difficult, is the col- 

 lection of a mass of coelomic corpuscles in the funnel. This 

 gives rise to the appearance represented in Goehlich's figure, 

 and which was considered by him to form part of the wall of 

 the funnel ; but a careful examination, both of fresh specimens 

 and stained preparations, has convinced me that these cells do 

 not belong to the funnel, but are cells of the coelomic fluid, in 

 some cases dead or dying, which will probably be carried to the 

 exterior, as Kukenthal has suggested. In the fresh state this 

 group of cells or " debris '' appears darker and less transparent 

 than the cells of the funnel. Stained with borax carmine the 

 nuclei have an appearance distinct from those of the nephridial 

 cells, being brighter, more granular, and much smaller. In 

 fact, many have the appearance of cells which have died, and 

 have begun to disintegrate. 



This mass of cells is shown in figs. 5 and 6. In one case 

 (that represented by fig. 6), in which the funnel was examined 

 twenty-four hours after the worm had been killed, not only 

 were the cilia still active, but some of the cells forming the 

 debris were still amoeboid, one or two short pointed pseudo- 

 podia being present (fig. 6, a). Another case (fig. 5), where 

 the cells of the debris are relatively few, shows the shape of 

 the real mouth of the funnel, which is marked out by the 

 aggregation of the cells into a crescentic mass. It was this 



