72 ME. r. E. BEDDAED ON THE ANATOBrY AND 



If this last comparison be just, it is of course impossible to compare the dilation of 

 the oesophagus in Enchytroeus ventriculosus with that in Microchceta, which is clearly 

 a portion of the oesophagus, and has nothing to do with the mid gut ; on the other 

 hand it seems to me also possible that the vascular dilatation of the oesophagus in 

 Enchytroeus ventriculosus may in reality correspond more closely with a somewhat 

 similar structure in Ocnerodrilus. In this Annelid Eisen ^ has described a pair of ceeca 

 developed from the oesophagus at a considerable distance from the mid gut ; he does 

 not, however, make any statements regarding their structure. It seems to me that the 

 oesophageal dilatation of Microchceta, as well as these structures just referred to, 

 probably correspond to the calciferous glands of Lumhricus. 



The remainder of the alimentary canal in Microchceta presents no features of special 

 interest. 



The intestine is capacious and furnished with a typhlosole which disappears at the 

 hinder end of the body. The typhlosole presents a spongy appearance when examined 

 with a lens, which is due to the immense development of blood-capillaries of various 

 dimensions, which almost entirely fill up its interior; the interstices between the 

 capillaries are occupied by large brown cells, evidently similar to those which clothe 

 the outer surface of the intestine, the blood-vessels, and the segmental organs in the 

 last half of the body. The intestine is unprovided with cajca or with glands of any 

 description, as is remarked by Eapp. 



Generative System. 

 (1) The cliteUum occupies an unusually large number of segments; it extends from 

 about segment ten to thirty, occupying therefore some twenty segments ; it is distin- 

 guishable from the rest of the integument by its colour, which is of a bright green : 

 this is well shown in the accompanying Plate (PL XIV.) ; the colour faded to a con- 

 siderable extent in alcohol, but at the time of writing this (some three months after 

 the worm was placed in spirit) it is still recognizable ; the clitellum does not, however, 

 extend very far ventrally ; the peculiar green colour ceases at the apertures of the seg- 

 mental organs and is replaced by a flesh-red. Perrier notices the same disposition of 

 the clitellum in Anteus ; in that worm, as in Microchceta, the clitellum is not developed 

 on the ventral surface of the body. The structure of the clitellum apparently differs 

 from that of Lumhricus ; the latter has been investigated by Claparede, and more recently 

 by Dr. Horst and Dr. v. Mojsisovics ; the statements of the two last-named writers are 

 in harmony with each other, but both differ considerably from the account given by 

 Claparede. According to Claparede the hypoderm layer of the general body-surface is 

 continued over the clitellum, but in that region of the body a glandular layer is inter- 

 posed between the hypoderm and the layer of transverse muscles ; the glandular layer 



' G. Eisen, " On the Anatomy of Ocnerodrilus," Nova Acta Soo. Eeg. Sci. Ujisala, vol. x. (series 3). 



