LAWSONj ON HELIX ASPERSA AND HORTENSIS. 269 



lar, being connected at the base with a small follicle, situated 

 between the layers of the dart-sac. The stilette appears to 

 be the secretion of this papilla ; it is perfectly transparent, 

 about a quarter of an inch long; tapering from base to apex, 

 it is tetrahedral in form, the sides being trenchant ; a trans- 

 verse section appears like a square, upon each of whose 

 external sides an equilateral triangle had been constructed ; it 

 is perforated throughout, and at its papillary extremity is 

 funnel-shaped, the lips also being slightly everted, or trumpet- 

 like. Thus it would seem to have the power of conveying 

 the product of secretion of the follicle (if any) through the 

 dart, and in this way by inoculation of inflicting the "love- 

 inspiring wound.'-' I believe it has been asserted on all 

 hands that the stilette never penetrates beyond the integu- 

 ment of the animal against which it is projected; that such 

 an assertion is correct I must, with all deference, deny, as I 

 have in several instances observed it lying deeply imbedded 

 among the viscera, whilst a second, quite distinct, existed in 

 its normal position within the sac; nay, more, from one 

 specimen, which I examined at the period of depositing 

 the eggs, I succeeded in extracting two almost perfect 

 darts. 



The multified vesicles are a number of branching cseca, 

 produced by the dichotomous division and subdivision of two 

 small ducts, whose orifices are situate upon each side of the 

 vagina, adjacent to its union with the dart-sac. In all, there 

 are about forty cseca, and each group extends for about half 

 an inch in the lateral direction. As yet no distinct function 

 has been assigned to them. 



The cloaca is the canal which leads from without to the 

 two great orifices of the genital organs within ; it is, of all, 

 the most anterior ; it is a very flexible vessel, about a quarter 

 of an inch in length, and one eighth in calibre ; it terminates 

 externally in a vertical slit, closed during life by a sphincter 

 of elastic membrane. This, which is sometimes termed the 

 generative outlet, lies at the distance of a quarter of an inch 

 from the upper tentacle, on the right side, in a plane posterior, 

 and a little inferior. Near this outlet is the communica- 

 tion with the penis, whilst at the further extreme of the 

 cloaca is observed the orifice of the dart-sac before men- 

 tioned. 



It will be seen by the foregoing remarks that I have taken 

 a view of the parts composing the generative system different 

 from that heretofore put forward on the matter. The older 

 supposition was that the liver-imbedded gland represented 

 the ovary, whilst the tongue or boat-shaped structure per- 



