528 MR. T. H. BURLEND ON THE UROGENITAL [Mar. 1, 



in section, with but little signs of segmentation, and terminated 

 posteriorly by a conical portion, which projects caudal wards 

 some distance behind the abdominal cavity. The paired and 

 unpaired regions are of a uniform reddish-brown colour, and 

 have glomeruli present throughout. 



Short collecting ducts pass from the lower outer borders of 

 the segments in front, and, at intervals, from the less segmented 

 parts of the urinary organ behind, into a longitudinal duct 

 running along the outer margin of the paired portions, this 

 duct extending in the peritoneum anteriorly beyond the level 

 of the kidney, and apparently becoming attenuated and ending 

 blindly. 



The longitudinal duct of each side passes, along with six 

 ureters from each side of the unpaired urinary organ, to open 

 dorsally by a right and a left opening into a median large 

 urinary bladder. The region where these ducts open is about 

 one-third of an inch from the front blind end of the bladder ; 

 the latter becomes somewhat narrower and opens behind the 

 oviducal openings by a median aperture at the caudal end of the 

 ridge-like elevation described above. Hence there is no cloaca, 

 the only indication of such being the depression between the 

 bases of the pelvic fins, where genital and urinary organs and 

 intestine open. 



It seems probable, having regard to the rudimentary nature 

 of the front end of the urinary organ in the adult female, and 

 the forward prolongation of the longitudinal collecting duct 

 beyond it, and further, the fact that the kidney extends beyond 

 the ovaries anteriorly in the immature female, that the front 

 end of the adult female kidney has undergone degeneration. 



The rectum opens separately and about an inch in front of 

 the oviducal apertures ; the anus has on its postero-lateral 

 margins the abdominal pore openings, which have the same 

 relations as in the male. 



" Receptaculum Seminis" 



In the ventral middle line and almost mid-way between the 

 anus and the urinary aperture is an opening, quite prominent 

 and just in front of the oviducal openings, which leads into a 

 digitiform, thick muscular-walled sac, about an inch in length 

 and called by writers from the time of Hyrtl " receptaculum 

 seminis." A further study of this structure shows that the 

 above name is misleading, and that a better term would be 

 " digitiform gland." On examination no spermatozoa were found 

 among its contents, but a fluid containing only globules and 

 a large brown chitinous rod occupied the greater portion of 

 its lumen. In all the adult females examined this rod was 

 present, but no spermatozoa. The lining of this sac consists 

 of long epithelial glandular cells. 



