292 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL MLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



" segment, but do not unite, they pass in close company through several 

 " segments." 



In a criticism I ventured to question the accuracy of this statement, 

 which Oapt. Lloyd now repeats, suggesting that my criticism was the result 

 of trusting to unaided vision. 



My criticism was based on observations made on six worms specially 

 dissected for the purpose. In all six, my own vision was aided by a 1" 

 power of the miscroscope ; in five by laying the dissected duct longitudinally 

 on the stage ; the sixth by means of sections cut in parafin, further examined 

 by the ^th objective. 



In all the observations my vision was corroborated by that of four 

 graduates in Biology, two of them tutors of many years' standing. A 

 seventh worm has since been sectioned. 



In no case have I found two ducts completely separate as described and 

 drawn above by Capt. Lloyd. In some a slight grooving or " fluring " 

 could be seen, but in all cases the duct or ducts were firmly united in a 

 common outer fibrous (?) coat. In one sectioned worm there was a single 

 lumen lined by a single layer of epithelial cells. In the other there 

 were two distinct lumina firmly bound together by a common outer 

 coat. 



This outer coat coidd in no way be mistaken for part of the body wall 

 from which in most segments it stands out so freely that, unless care be 

 taken to fix the section well to the slide, the portion of duct is likely to be 

 washed away. 



In no case could any student dissect or separate the ducts from one 

 another. 



Let me point out that there are two distinct structures attached to the 

 oesophagus in the anterior (5th and 6th) segments of this worm : — 



(a) Oapt. Lloyd's bunch of grape-like glands of which he gives above an 

 excellent drawing. I acknowledge with pleasure that my attention was 

 first drawn to them, by Capt. Lloyd himself a year or two ago in conversation. 



ib) Large tufts of nephridia which require to be dissected away before 

 {a) can be seen. 



I regret that my remarks about the oesophageal glands were so losely 

 worded. An answer to Oapt. Lloyd's query "How about the perplexed 

 " student, who in Bombay no less than in Calcutta, is urged to see things 

 " as they are ? " will best explain what I wanted to convey. 



I had supplied some thirty copies of Capt. Lloyd's book to my 

 students. 



Every one of these students when dissecting, with the aid of the book, 

 identified the tufted nephridia as "oesophageal glands." 



Oapt. Lloyd's description is : " These are a pair of conspicuous glands 

 which look like a bunch of red grapes ". 



