1902.] 



NEW SPECIES OF EARTHWORMS. 



203 



somewhat broken sections which were brought about by the brittle- 

 ness of the walls. In longitudinal section (text-fig. 54) the case 

 showed an oval contour, and it was nearly completely filled by a 

 plug of matter with the following constitution : — The matrix, so to 

 speak, of the no doubt flidd contents — fluid, that is to say, during life 

 — was formed of granules of various sizes, which have not absorbed 

 the borax-carmine with which the entire spermato^jhore had been 

 stained. , The spei'matophoi-e was not submitted foi' more than 

 half an hour to the staining fluid, but in that time the S23ei'ma- 

 tozoa within the case had been deeply tinted. But, as I have 

 remarked, the granular matter was not so stained, and is therefore 



Text-fig. 54. 



Section through apex of spermatophoral case of Polytor&utus Jcenyaensis, 

 highly magnified. 



a, b, two laj'ers of chitinous case ; S, sperm-ropes imbedded in granular matter. 



evidently to be i-egarded as a difTerent substance from the imbedded 

 spermatozoa,. It is not, for example, composed of nucleated cells ; 

 or so at least it might be infeired from its non-staining qualities. 

 The nature of this substance seems to me to be probably identical 

 with that of the substance f omiing the w^alls of the spermatophoi-e. 

 I shall deal with the two together. Imbedded in this giunulai- 

 mass are the spei-matozoa. These are not, however, loose and free 

 from each other as in the case of the contents of some othei- 

 spermatophores — for example, those of the genus Stuhhnannia, 

 They consist of the regular bundles of spermatozoa which I have 

 ali-eady referred to as " spermatophores," In sections these were 



