MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 155 
from participating in the boundary of the lumen, ‘which is now limited 
by only three cells, one dorsal and two ventral. The cell, thus forced 
back from the lumen, dwindles away, and is not replaced by another. 
A lumen bounded by three cells persists for some distance backward, 
but finally another cell disappears and the lumen lies between two cells 
(Fig. 49). Idid not succeed in finding the exact spot where the dis- 
appearance of the third cell takes place, and am hence unable to give the 
details of the process. From this place posteriad all further change is 
of degree and not of kind, since the intestine simply grows smaller, the 
lumen all but disappears (Figs. 46-48), and finally the whole structure 
vanishes (Fig. 9) shortly before the end of the body is reached. In no 
case, either in entire preparations or in sections, was I able to trace it 
nearer than within a few millimeters of the posterior end of the body ; 
and since it was entirely free at its termination, no clue was given as to 
its relation to the terminal orifice of the body. Since this orifice is 
clearly connected with the sexual organs, as will be demonstrated 
later, it remains doubtful whether it is a cloacal opening, or whether 
the end of the intestine is to be found elsewhere. Certain it is that 
in the intestine we have a highly degenerate organ, so that from a 
study of the adult alone no light can be gained as to its termination, 
It is interesting to note that the cesophagus is intracellular, the intes- 
tine however clearly intercellular. 
No mesenteries were found binding the intestine to the body wall, and 
consequently its position varies in different individuals. It was more 
often ventral than dorsal, and lateral than median. In the female 
(Plate IV. Fig. 58), however, it extends directly through the middle of 
the mass of nearly ripe eggs. 
The description of the structure of the alimentary canal already given 
for the male, holds good for the female as well, except that the lengths 
of the various parts are somewhat less than those of the male. The 
anterior chamber is much smaller, and the parts contained in it more 
compressed. 
Burger (’91, p. 643) described in general the four intestinal cells un- 
der the somewhat inappropriate name of oesophageal cells. He failed 
to recognize the cellular nature of the real oesophageal cell, since he 
speaks only of the tube and of a fibrous envelope. He seems to have 
entirely overlooked the loop in the tube, which probably existed in 
sections between those represented in his Figures 22 and 23, and.nat- 
urally was able to give but little on histological structure. I do not 
believe it is advantageous to speak, as he does, of the intestinal cells as 
