Eel-worm in Paper-hangers^ Paste. 305 



long axis of the worm, and leads anteriorly into tlie uterus, 

 wliilst the narrow passage to the ovarium is given off dorsally 

 halfway down the length of the vagina. The vulva opens on 

 the Villi nil siirlace ot the body and has slightly protruberant 

 culicular lips. 'I'hc vagina leads to this by bending postero- 

 lalerally, and at the angle ot the bend the ventral wall of the 

 chaniber is indcnieil into a pronounced notch, into which fits 

 a corresjionding thickening of the postero-dorsal wall. 



The whole structure is similar in essentials to that figured 

 by Man (8) for A. ludu'i(/ii, though it differs slightly from it 

 in details. 



Male. — The posterior end of the male worms is always 

 bent vent) ally, and is attenuated to a finely pointed tail. 

 There are five ])airs of small papillre on the cuticle in this 

 region, two pairs being preanal and three pairs postanal as in 

 A. aceti, but they are rather differently situated relatively to 

 one another from those of A. aoeli. Of the preanal ones, one 

 pair lies very close to the anus, whilst the other pair is placed 

 much further forward some little distance in front of the 

 anterior ends of the spicules. Two pairs of the postanal 

 papilla? are ventral and occur a short distance behind the 

 anus. They vary slightly in their proximity to each other, 

 sometimes lying quite close to, and in other cases being 

 separated fairly well from, each other. 



The third pair lies dorsally still further behind the last pair 

 of ventral ones at the point where the tail begins to taper 

 rather sharply. 



Reprodi4clive Sf/stem. — The gonital opening is situated on 

 a well-marked prominence which also carries the anus — in 

 fact, the rectum and the genital duct appear to possess u 

 common opening to the exterior. The posterior portion of 

 the sperm-duct has a vacuolate appearance, as shown in 

 fig. 3. The testis consists of a solid core of cells extending 

 forwards in the body, and is frequently bent backwards on 

 itself for a short distance like the ovary. 



Tiie spicules are well developed and very different in shape 

 from those of A. aceti. Each spicule is shaped like a club, 

 the shaft representing the handle and the expanded anterior 

 end the head of the club. Besides being broader than the 

 main part of the spicule, the head-end curves backwards in 

 the form of a hook, and the whole head is flexed ventrally, 

 not dorsally as in A. aceti. The dorsal wall of each spiculo 

 is raised into a well-marked ridge, which gradually unites 

 with the edge as the spicule narrows and approaches the 

 posterior end. The ventral edge is also raised up into a 



A7in. (& Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 9. Vol, x. 21 



