78 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



ducts are in places entirely closed in by muscles, while the glands themselves are 

 only supported by them. 



The ducts lead directly to the pharyngeal epithelium; arrived here they branch 

 out sending numerous discharge-tubes between the epithelial cells (fig. 36 cjl. dt.), dis- 

 charging the salivary mucous in the pharyngeal cavity. These ductules are fre- 

 quently, though not generally, branched while in the epithelial layer. Each ductule 

 is furnished at the distal end with a small storage chamber (o6a) of oblong form and 

 considerably smaller than the nucleus of the epithelial cells. 



Sej^tal glands. As has already been stated there are five pair of very small glands, 

 wiiich are pricipally attached to the connecting vessels in somites v to ix, and sit- 

 uated on the ventral side of the oesophagus. These glands do not hang on closely to 

 the septum, but are apparently suspended from it only by a few tiny mesenteric tis- 

 sues and by a muscle or two. In longitudinal section they appear as suspend entirely 

 between the two septa (fig. 29), while in cross-section they are seen to be affixed to 

 the connecting vessels and from them project laterally, the point of affixion being 

 close to the ventral vessels (fig. 70 gl.) The general outline of these glands resemble 

 the so-called liver cells attached to the connecting and other vessels in some Lumbri- 

 cides, but the structure is similar to the salivary glands. The gland in v resembles 

 exactly the structure in the salivary glands which open in the pharynx, it being 

 transversed by blood capillaries, infested with the same parasites, suppoi'ted by mus- 

 cles, and finally is only sparcely surrounded by floating, globular, ccelomic cells. The 

 other gland in vi to ix are all surrounded by a thick coating of these floating crelomic 

 cells. These glands stain in the same way as the salivary glands, their secretions being 

 stained deep violet with hpematoxylon-orange, while the coelooiic cells stain pale yellow. 

 A fine and very thin duct runs backwards and upwards from the far upper end of 

 each gland towards the alimentary canal to its junction with the septum, but I 

 have some doubt about it emptying into the intestine, and it is much more 

 probable that in Pontodrilus, as well as in Phoenicodrilus and Ocnerodrilus, these 

 septal glands empty into the pharynx. None of my sections, however, show 

 this to be the case. Certain it is that in Pontodrilus the various septal glands 

 are not as closely connected with the salivary glands as in the just mentioned 

 genera, in which the respective glands are actually not only suspended from the same 

 longitudinal muscular band, but along and resting on the latter run also the collective 

 ducts of the glands. Among the salivary and septal glands are seen numerous ir- 

 regular, generally oval or oblong bodies full of nuclei. These are the terminal pock- 

 ets of the capilaries, generally termed blood glands. 



Blood glands (fig. 73a, t.). Ed. Perrier was the first to describe blood glands 

 in Pontodrilus, but he found them exclusively in the blood vessels or at the end of 

 the capilaries investing the nephridia. In our present species, P. Mkhaeheni, I have 

 found these glands only in the capillaries of the salivary and septal glands. They 

 here occur in very large numbers, especially in the former, being massed at 

 or near the posterior edge of the gland in varying numbers. Some specimens con- 



