1902.] NEW SPECIES OF EARTHWORMS. 205 



considerable number are to be found in the same cocoon. Whether 

 future investigation will show that P. magilensis has a large 

 spermatophore like P. montis-kenym remains to be seen ; but in 

 the meantime I may point out that that species agrees with 

 P. kenyaensis in the very conspicuous character of the spei'mathecal 

 pore ; while in those species with numerous and small spermato- 

 phores the external orifice of the sperm-sac is not so conspicuous. 

 In a former paper dealing with the spermatophores of this genus ', 

 I found myself unable to suggest the place of origin of these 

 structures. I believe that I am now able to fix this with some 

 probability. Were the spermatophores or sperm-ropes constructed 

 by the activity of the spermiducal glands, the spermathecal sacs 

 would only contain spermatophores or sperm-ropes abeady fully 

 formed. This, however, is not the case; there are abundant and 

 free spermatozoa, as I have already mentioned, in the diverticula 

 of the oviduct and along the course of the latter up to and in the 

 spermathecal sac itself. In my description of Polytoreutus 

 magilensis I pointed out that free spermatozoa were to be found at 

 the distal end of the spermathecal sac and not near to its mouth ^. 

 I have met with precisely the same thing in the present species. 

 At the blind end of the spermathecal sac are numerous masses of 

 free spermatozoa, generally in contact with a quantity of the 

 granular matter which fills the pouch. 



The facts lend themselves, indeed, to the hypothesis that the 

 sperm from another individual gains access to the spermathecal 

 sac, not by direct transference through the mouth of that sac, but 

 through the oviducts, whose external pores are after all large and 

 conspicuous, and quite as marked as are the external apertures of 

 the spermathecal in many other Oligochaeta. At present, however, 

 this view is not in the least pressed, for we are totally ignorant of 

 the mode of copulation in these creatures. Again, if the sperma- 

 thecal sac were a mere storage-house for the spermatophores, we 

 should hardly expect it to be lined with the kind of epithelium 

 which actually forms the lining of that chamber. The cells are 

 long and granular, and at their free ends give oflf a loose granular 

 secretion, into which indeed they appear to break up. In the 

 spermathecal sac of an example of Polytoreutus kenyaensis, in 

 which the mouth of the sac was plugged b}^ no sjoermatophore, 

 the sac was much occupied by actual cells which had wandered off 

 from the lining epithelium. I take it that these later break down 

 to form the granular matter already referred to. This granular 

 matter in P. onontis-kenyce was seen to close round the spermato- 

 phores, and its appearance was quite indistinguishable from the 

 chitinous (?) case of the small spermatophores. In some instances 

 no demarcation could be drawn between the granular matter 

 filling the pouch and that portion of it immediately surrounding 



1 " On some Earthworms from British East Africa ; and on the Spermato- 

 phores of Poly tor etitiis and Stwlilmannia," P. Z. S. 1901, vol. i. p. 340. 



" " Two new Genera and some new Species of Earthworms," Quart. .Journ, 

 Micr. Sci. vol. xxxiv. (n. s.) p. 252, 



