some new Species o/Drawida. 521 



are wavy and are disposed longitudinally — a fibre extending 

 over more than two somites. The wavy fibres are not 

 gi'anular, while the cells included in the beaded variety, 

 which is an incipient fibre, are deeply stained (hjeraato- 

 xylin). It is to these fibres that the tougliness of the skin- 

 texture and its considerable elasticity are due. In sections 

 of the skin obtained from the posterior white portion, the 

 occurrence of large cubical cells with considerably thick 

 "walls, either empty or full of a deeply staining mass, forms 

 a conspicuous feature. The granular mass is the coagulated 

 mucus whose presence accounts for the milk- whiteness of 

 this region of the body. In the specimens in which the 

 preserving fluids have thoroughly dissolved the lipochrome 

 pigments and the mucus of the cells, the skin, chiefly in 

 the anterior region, becomes transparent, through which the 

 reproductive organs, the nerve-cord, and the subueural 

 vessel can be seen. But the opacity of the skin in the 

 posterior part is due to the inaccessibility of the mucous 

 cells to the solvent action of spirit, for the superficial 

 epidermal cells in this region form a fairly thick corium. 



Septa 5/6-8/9 are very muscular, about three times as 

 thick as the skin, are shifted backwards about the distance 

 of three somites, and are telescoped into each other. In 

 consequence of the backward deflection of septum 8/9 ex- 

 tending as far behind as somite 11, septa 9/10, 10/11 are 

 absent or are only imperfectly developed. In the region of 

 the gizzards, a fusion of septa 13/14 and 20/21 may take place 

 in some mature forms, and only imperfectly so in others. 

 The succeeding septa are tender up to somite 120, when 

 they again become as thick as or thicker than the skin. 

 Septa 11/12 and 12/13 form an imperfect ovarian chamber. 



There are generally four, occasionally five, hard-walled 

 yellow gizzards, occupying somites 13-21. Each gizzard is 

 very large and muscular, taking up two segments, and the 

 softer annuli between them are very greatly developed. 

 These are followed by a series of 3 to 6 softer gizzards, 

 smaller than the anterior ones, placed in segments 22 to 30 ; 

 thus each of these secondary ones also taking up a segment. 

 The alimentary canal is thin and is without a typhlosole, and 

 behind segment 120 the intestine becomes conspicuously 

 white and thick-walled. In transverse sections the lumen 

 of the intestine appears as a narrow vertical slit, the walls 

 touching one another. The intestinal wall in this region is 

 composed of very greatly developed circular muscles, with 

 radiating bundles of the same tissue, which in the inter- 

 segmental constrictions pass into the septa. Scattered 



