348 ON EAUTHWOIIMS FROM SOUTH AFRICA. [Mar. 16, 



xii./xiii. It is rather less obvious than the male 'pore, which is 

 between .segments xvii. and xviii. The latter is more con- 

 spicuous on account of the fact that the actual pore lies upon the 

 summit of an elevated tract of the skin. The position of the 

 generative apertures and their general appearance presents the 

 closest likeness to the West African Li/Jiioch-ilus, from which worm 

 the elongated spermiducal glands appearing through the skin serve 

 to differentiate the present species even before dissection. 



The alimentary canal shows characters that are typically Eudrilid. 

 In each of segments x. and xi. is a single median unpaired 

 calciferous gland, which is of a deep red colour and nearly globular 

 in outline. In segment xiii. are the paired calciferous r/laiids, which 

 are white in colour and not large. Each is curved into rather 

 more than a semicircle and the margin is indented. The large 

 intestine begins in segment xiv. The gizzards, as in other allied 

 forms, are some way down the intestine. There are three of them 

 lying in segments xviii., xix., xx. ; there is nothing peculiar about 

 them except the position, which is not unusual among the Eudri- 

 lidae, as already mentioned. 



This earthworm has ^'■hearts" in each of segments vii.-xi. 

 As in so many Eudrilids, the funnels of the sperm-ducts, of which 

 there are two pairs in segments x. and xi., are followed by a dilated 

 sac which in the present species is egg-.shaped. The funnels 

 themselves, which look backwards (so far as I could make out), 

 appear to be plunged in the interior of the sperm-sacs, of which 

 there are likewise two pairs ; these latter organs depend from the 

 anterior wall of segments xi. and xii. and are long and tongue- 

 shaped, being flattened somewhat and wider towards the blind 

 extremities. The testes I did not see. 



The sperwiducal glands are very conspicuous, and, as already 

 mentioned, are visible through the translucent walls before the 

 bodv is cut open. The two tubes have the nacreous appearance 

 which is so usual with those glands in the present family ; they 

 are somewhat .spirally twisted in their course, and therefore do 

 not reach so far back in the body as would be the case did they 

 lie straight. Each of the glands measures 22 mm. in length ; 

 the two unite just at their opening on to the exterior by a short 

 terminal bursa. The sperm -ducts open into them some way before 

 their termination. I could find no penial setce. 



The female reproductive organs conform generally to the plan 

 characteristic of the family, and are to the full as conjplicated as in 

 any other genus. The orifice already referred to leads into a sac 

 which lies beneath the nerve-cord and extends back for a distance 

 of 5-5 mm. It has a wide cavity, which in the specimen that I 

 dissected appeared to be empty. Into this sac, which is the sperma- 

 tliecal sac, opens on either side a tube of some length which is 

 disposed in a circle. This tube is at first wide and sacculated. After 

 a course of about 10 mm. it suddenly narrows, and the lumen, at 

 first wide in proportion to the thickness of the walls, becomes 

 much constricted. This narrow tube then dilates to form what 



