x PHYLUM ANNULATA 437 



system. Sometimes the blood is colourless : very commonly it 

 is bright red in colour, owing to the presence of haemoglobin^ 

 which is not confined to the corpuscles, but is dissolved in the 

 plasma. In Serpula and its allies the blood is bright green, owing 

 to the presence of a green colouring matter, which has an affinity 

 for oxygen similar to that possessed by hsemoglobin. 



The chief blood-vessels are usually dorsal and ventral longi- 

 tudinal trunks. These are connected together by metamerically 

 arranged transverse branches. In some of the Tubicola the dorsal 

 vessel is not present, its place being taken by a circum-intestinal 

 sinus or a circum-intestinal plexus of vessels lying in the wall of the 

 alimentary canal. The movement of the blood is effected in most 

 instances by peristaltic contractions of the dorsal vessel or of a 

 circum-intestinal sinus or plexus, or of a short and wide dorsal 

 cardiac sac given off by the latter anteriorly, having the effect of 

 driving the blood from behind forwards. In some instances, as in the 

 Earthworms and some Tubicola, specially dilated lateral vessels are 

 contractile, and by their pulsations bring about the circulation of 

 the blood through the system of vessels. Plexuses of fine capillary 

 vessels in the integument of various parts frequently aid in 

 respiration, and are particularly well developed in certain forms in 

 which definite organs of respiration are absent. 



The nervous system consists of a cerebral ganglion or brain 

 and a double ventral chain of ganglia. The cerebral ganglion is 

 distinctly bilobed, and may be looked upon as composed of two 

 intimately united ganglia. It is almost invariably situated in the 

 prostomium, though placed a little further back in the Earth- 

 worms ; it gives off branches to the eyes and tentacles. From it 

 there run backwards and downwards the paired aesophageal con- 

 nectives, which embrace the anterior part of the alimentary canal 

 between them, and below join the anterior end of the ventral chain 

 of ganglia. The latter always exhibits indications of being made 

 up of two lateral halves, in the double character of the connecting 

 commissures, and frequently of the ganglia themselves. One of 

 these double ganglia occurs in each segment, and from it a number 

 of nerves pass out to the various parts of the segment. In certain 

 Tubicola (Serpula and others) the two halves of the chain are 

 separated from one another by a wide space, across which trans- 

 verse commissures pass between the ganglia. Connected with the 

 cerebral ganglia, or with the cesophageal connectives, or with both, 

 there is a system of delicate stomatogastric nerves passing to the 

 walls of the anterior part of the alimentary canal. In the majority 

 of the Cha3topoda the cerebral ganglion and the ventral chain are 

 separated from the epidermis by muscular layers ; in some, how- 

 ever, the ventral chain is in contact with the epidermis ; and in 

 certain primitive or aberrant forms, the Archi-Cha3topoda (Fig. 

 344) and Sternaspis, the cerebral ganglion is in close union with 



