122 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3D Ser. 



fused cells. The lining of the mould, and the covering of 

 these pads, is a distinct cuticle whose free surface is beset 

 with great numbers of minute hemispherical bosses, which 

 in cross-section give the cuticle a beaded appearance. 

 Numerous fibers, muscle and connective tissues, attach to 

 the outer surface of the mould, form a mesh-work about 

 it, and externally unite with a thin structureless sheath upon 

 which one may detect a few muscle fibers and spindle- 

 shaped nuclei. Beyond the ootype these various investing 

 sheaths form a narrow tube, the uterus (fig. 13, u.), which 

 unites with the genital cloaca or genital atrium of Goto a 

 short distance from the external opening. The vagina 

 (fig. 13, z^.), which may correspond to the canal of Laurer, 

 though this is by no means an assured fact, is under usual 

 circumstances a relatively small and inconspicuous struc- 

 ture. Arising from the anterior surface of the yolk reser- 

 voir, it extends with many loopings and windings to the 

 exterior at a point on the ventral surface of the body 

 a short distance behind the opening of the reproductive 

 system (fig. 11, ?^.). Immediately within the external pore 

 with puckered lips the tube widens, forming a small reser- 

 voir which is capable of some distention, as one may some- 

 times note in living specimens. It is only rarely that this 

 canal contains sperm, and I have never yet seen them in the 

 above mentioned reservoir, which, therefore, more prob- 

 ably serves to admit of the entrance of the penis than 

 as a seminal receptacle. Occasionally one finds the 

 sperm extending from the vagina through the anterior 

 portion of the cavity of the yolk reservoir, and it is without 

 doubt this path which they traverse in reaching the seminal 

 receptacle. It is not an unusual occurrence to find yolk- 

 granules in the inner portions of the vagina, and even in 

 the ovary, but this is undoubtedly a pathological condition,- 

 for it only occurs upon the relaxation of the tissues immedi- 

 ately before death. 



VI. The Egg-laying Process. 



During the reproductive season some of the yolk follicles 

 situated in various portions of the body may frequently be 



