244 



DR. W. B. BENHAM ON 



[Nov. 15, 



The prostates have a form and disposition on the body which 

 appear to be peculiar and characteristic of the genus. Each 

 prostate is a long " tongue-shaped " gland (text-fig. 64, p. 242), 

 i. e., though it is tubular in that its axis is hollow, it is not cylin- 

 drical but somewhat flattened, extending through several segments, 

 and its apex is usually recurved. The pair of glands, typically, 

 lie side by side, pressed against the body- wall below the gut, 

 and indeed below the ventral blood-vessel ; but in individual 

 cases the right and left glands are asymmetrically disposed. For 

 instance, in one case (text-fig. 65, p. 243), the right gland passes 

 backwards from its duct to the 24th segment, and then bends for- 

 wards on the left side, and its apex lies in the 21st segment ; whereas 

 the left gland passes forwards into the 16th segment, then curves 

 round to the right side, passes at first backwards, and then 

 obliquely to the left side, so that its apex lies in segment 20. 



Text-fig. 66. 



.V.D. 



Text-fie-. 67. 



+ BR .L- 



Text-fig. 66. Tokea esculenta. — A diagram, compiled from serial sections, showing 

 the com'se of the sperm-ducts, their union, and junction with the canal of the 

 prostate, well within the region of the glandular tissue. PR., prostate ; P.R.L., 

 its lumen ; PR.D., its duct ; S, septum ; V.D., vas deferens. 



Text-tig. 67. Tokea esculenta. — Spermatheca (X12. Camera outline of mounted 

 specimen). 



The surface of the gland is smooth ; it is consti-icted by the 

 successive septa, and at its anterior end gives rise to a muscular 

 duct which passes to the exterior in segment 18. Sections 



