338 OLIGOCHAETA 



This species has been principally investigated by MICHAELSEN (13). 



It does not, however, seem to be by any means certain that the species termed by MICHAELSEN 

 ' spiculus ' are the same as the E. spiculus of LEUCKART. VEJDOVSKY places this species among 

 the 'species inquirendae,' and VAILLANT (6, p. 247) remarks that 'il est assez difficile de pouvoir 

 apprecier la valeur des E. spiculus, &c.' emphasizing this remark by relegating the species to the 

 section 'incertae sedis' on p. 253 of his work. 



If MICHAELSEN'S identification be right, the species can easily be distinguished 

 from others ; as a general rule there are not more than six setae in a bundle, but 

 occasionally the number is as high as eight. The spermathecae consist of a pear-shaped 

 pouch, communicating with the exterior by means of a rather short, straight, simple 

 duct. The nephridia are straight, or bent sharply at right angles ; there is no 

 constriction at the septum; there is no distinctly differentiated duct leading to 

 the exterior, the calibre of the organ diminishing but slightly at the point where 

 it comes into contact with body-wall ; the anteseptal part of the organ, besides the 

 characters mentioned in the definition of the species, is to be distinguished by the 

 absence of granules, and is, therefore, quite clear. The clitellum is remarkable for 

 the fact that there are regularly alternating transverse lines of darkly-staining and 

 hardly-staining cells. A curious point about the species appears to be that the 

 cocoons contain only one egg, differing, therefore, from all the other marine 

 Enchytraeidae. 



(3) Enchytraeus buchholzii, VEJDOVSKY. 



E. buchholzii, VEJDOVSKY, SB. Bohm. Ges., 1877, p. 302. 

 Archienchytraeus Bucholzii, ROSA, Boll. Mus. Zool. Torino, 1887, No. 29. 



Definition. Length, lomm.; number of segments, 28; setae, 2-3 per bundle. Brain slightly 

 concave behind. Nephridia with narrow anteseptal portion, with straight lumen, no 

 differentiated duct. Spermathecae with duct as long as pouch, a group of glands at pore. 

 Hab. Denmark; Germany; Bohemia; Italy. 



This species has been chiefly studied by VEJDOVSKY and by UDE (1). The salivary 

 glands are long and much coiled in the distal half; these organs are figured by 

 VEJDOVSKY (3, PI. iii. fig. i) as gradually diminishing in calibre towards the free 

 end, but UDE found that, in all the examples of the species examined by himself, 

 the coiled part of the gland arose from a broad tract. The funnels of the sperm- 

 ducts are not large ; the duct is composed of comparatively few coils, and the 

 spermiducal glands at its termination are large. 



