570 FEANK E. BEDDARD. 



sac where it projects into the spermathecal sac is a band of elas- 

 tic tissue {el.), which I have already spoken of in connection with 

 the spermathecal sac; it will be noticed that this band of tissue 

 does not belong to the egg-sac but lies outside it, thus showing 

 that the egg-sac does not really project into the spermathecal 

 sac through its walls ; it is, therefore, unnecessary to state that 

 there is not any communication between the internal cavities 

 of these organs. They are perfectly independent of each other 

 though in very close contact. The egg-sacs have, in fact, the 

 same relation to the spermathecal sac that the sperm-sacs have 

 in certain earthworms to the " seminal reservoir." For 

 example, in Dichogaster the sperm-sacs are enclosed in large 

 thin- walled seminal reservoirs. Bergli distinguishes these sacs 

 in Lumbricus as " Samenkapseln" (= seminal reservoirs), 

 and " Samenblasen^' (= sperm-sacs). The former may, and 

 generally do, enclose other organs, e. g. the ventral blood- 

 vessels, and, in Dichogaster, the sperm-sacs themselves. 



The mature ova have a thick, darkly-staining membrane, 

 in which I could find no striae such as occur in Hyper iodrilus 

 and Heliodrilus. 



Oviduct. — In describing the external characters of this 

 worm, I have already remarked upon the abnormal position 

 of the oviducal pores. Their position is seen in longitudinal 

 sections to be rather less abnormal. This is due to the fact 

 that the septum which separates Segments 14 — 15 is attached 

 to the middle of the latter segment, just in front of the 

 setae ; accordingly the oviducal pores are really situated 

 within the fourteenth segment, reckoning by the 

 septa and not by the external furrows; they are, how- 

 ever, as in Teleudrilus, just in the boundary line between 

 the two segments. 



In dissections of the worm (see fig. 1) the oviduct is 

 seen to pass in a straight line without any windings from the 

 egg-sac to the exterior; its length is considerable when com- 

 pared with the oviduct of Lumbricus, for example; in dissec- 

 tions the egg-sac cannot be seen, as it is entirely enclosed by 

 the spermathecal sac. In transverse and longitudinal sections 



