172 MR. V. E. BEDDARD ON A LARGE EARTHWORM. [Mar. 16, 



Generative System. — In the 12th segment are a pair of glands 

 attached firmly to the mesentery which separates this segment from 

 the one anterior to it ; in two specimens these glands were paired, 

 while in a third only the left-hand one of the two was present ; in 

 one specimen these glands have a racemose structnre, and although 

 a microscopic examination did not reveal any structure, I have 

 little doubt that these glands are testes. Out of the seven examples 

 at my disposal one specimen possessed a similar pair of glands in 

 the 11th segment in addition to those found in the Tith segment ; 

 in all the remaining specimens save one, which was small and 

 immature, the 10th segment (that which follows the segment con- 

 taining the posterior pair of spermathecae) has a pair of glaudular- 

 looking bodies which are very similar in general appearance to the 

 structures which I have regarded as the testes ; they are attached, 

 however, to the posterior wall of their segment, which, as in other 

 Earthworms, is not separated by a mesentery from the !)th segment; 

 these two segments, which are thus fused, contain the gizzard. 



The fact that these glands are attached to the posterior and not 

 to the anterior wall of their segment is perhaps against the view 

 that they represent an anterior pair of testes ; at the same time it 

 happens that the segment in which they occur has no anterior wall, 

 being fused with the preceding 9th segment ; these glands were 

 not present in the only specimen that had two jiairs of testes. In 

 Acanthodrilus capensis ' there are three pairs of testes situated in 

 segments 10, 11, and 12; but out of a number of examples that 

 I dissected only one had the three pairs developed. There is therefore 

 nothing unusual in supposing that the present species, like^. capensis, 

 has three pairs of testes, although all the other species that are known 

 appear to have only two pairs. On the other hand, the gland in 

 segment 10 is very similar to a curious structure which exists in A. 

 capensis in a similar position, i. e. attached to the posterior wall of the 

 segment. In this sjiecies, however, the gizzard happens to be placed 

 in front of the copulatory pouches, and not in the segment which 

 contains them ; so that the two pairs of pouches are separated from 

 each other and from the following segments by fully developed 

 mesenteries, which, as already stated, is not the case witl) the species 

 tliat forms the subject of the present communication ; in this species 

 the gizzard lies in the 9th and 10th segments. If, however, these 

 structures correspond to those recorded by me in A. capensis, it is 

 no explanation of their nature ; in neither case is their function at all 

 evident. 



The vasa deferentia were not visible. Each of the four male genital 

 apertures are furnished with a long sac containing a number of 

 penial set<B which open on to the exterior in common with the duct 

 of along coiled prostate gland, which appears to be similar in structure 

 to the prostates of A. obtusus'- ; on the other hand, the characters 



^ Proc. Roy. Pbys. Soc. loc. cit. p. 375. I have written 11, 12, and 13 in 

 error ; the ovaries, as I have been able to assure myself by a subsequent examin- 

 ation, are in segment 13, and so presumably the testes are in the three segments 

 anterior to that ■n-bich contains the ovaries, viz. in segments 10, 11, 12. 



^ Perrier, loc. cit. p. 88. 



