126 



which project into the interior of the body, being attached by a small 

 part of their circumference ; and becoming very wide and free near the 

 head. The dorsal and ventral nervous cords are plainly visible in 

 the midspace of the lateral vessels. The muscular tunics of the body 

 are well developed, consisting of external transverse and internal 

 longitudinal fibres. The latter are lined with a layer of pulpy floc- 

 culent substance. 



"The male organs consist of a shghtly-curved slender single 

 spiculum, projecting from the caudal extremity of the body, as 

 above described. The base of this spiculum communicates with a 

 dilated receptacle, 2 lines long, of an opake white colour, which is 

 separated by a slight constriction from the rest of the seminal tube ; 

 this is, as usual, single : it is semi-transparent, and gradually grows 

 smaller to its blind extremity, which is attached by cellular tissue to 

 the middle line of the ventral surface of the body, half-way between 

 the two extremities. The whole length of the seminal tube is ten 

 times that of the entire worm. 



" The female organs consist of the vulva, vagina, uterus hicornis, 

 and oviducts or ovarian tubes. 



" From the vulva, the situation of which has been already men- 

 tioned, the vagina is continued, at first wide, then narrower, and lastly 

 widening again to pass into the uterus: it exceeds an inch in length. 

 The tM'o cornua of the uterus are each about -^ a line in diameter, and 

 5 lines in length ; they diminish and are continued without any con- 

 striction into tiie ovarian tubes ; these are of immense proportional 

 length, each exceeding, by 30 times, the length of the body ; their at- 

 tenuated extremities or beginnings are not attached to the parietes 

 of the body; although the coils of the oviducts appear at first sight 

 to be inextricably interwoven around the intestine, they in reality 

 cover it in aggregate folds, which are easily separated from the in- 

 testine, and unravelled." 



Mr. Owen stated in conclusion, that preparations exhibiting the 

 male and female organs thus unfolded, with the digestive canal and 

 salivary apparatus, had been deposited in the Museum of the Royal 

 College of Surgeons. 



