1901.] FROM MRITISn EAST AFRICA. 3-17 



The case is, 1 believe, different with the spermatopbores of an 

 earthworm which it is the object of the present paper to descinbe. 

 The species upon which my observations weve made is of the genus 

 StaJilmannia, an East-African Eudrihd ^^hose general anatomy m as 

 detailed some years since by Michaelsen. I am in possession of a 

 quantity of examples of that worm which are in an excellent state 

 of preservation for microscopical work. This Annelid, like other 

 Eudi'ilidse, has no true spermathecte hke those of the majority of 

 earthworms, unless, indeed, the actual external orifice of the pouches 

 and the epithehum which passes from the epidermis of Ihe body- 

 wall for a short way iiito the interior be regarded as the equivalent 

 of the spermathecae ; it has capacious sacs which are probably (in 

 other forms of Eudrilidae certainly) formed by the peritoneal 

 epithelium, and whose ca^ities therefore are coelomic. They are 

 lined throughout by an epithelium of tall columnar cells, \\hose 

 characters I shall attend to in detail immediately. In the sper- 

 matheciB are frequently to be found masses of spermatozoa which 

 are not compacted together by any cementing material apparent 

 on staining, but which seem to be perfectly free and floating 

 spermatozoa. This was the case with some examples which 1 

 studied. In two or three were these masses of spermatozoa com- 

 pacted into spermatophores, which are always contained in the 

 median sac \ 



The spermatophores of StiMmannia differ from those of any 

 other Oligochseta whose spermatophores are known. Their 

 characters are somewhat intermediate between the two types 

 which these organs present in the Order. It will be recollected 

 that in the Lumbricidse, in Criodrilus, and in Alma the spermato- 

 phores are chitinous cases open at one end, but quite impervious 

 elsewhere, of not very elongated form, which are found attached to 

 the body-wall of individuals belonging to these genera in the 

 vicinity of the generative pores. To this type belong also the sper- 

 matophores of one genus of Tubificida?, Bothnoneuron, which has 

 essentially similar spermatophores, and \Ahich, in accordance with 

 their structural resemblance to those of the Lumbricida^ and the other 

 genera mentioned, are attached to the body superficially. On the 

 other hand, in the Tubificidte {Tuhifex, Limnodrilus, Psammoryctes, 

 ClUellio), and in the genus Pohjioreutus among the EudriUdse, the 

 spermatophores are elongated structures, with often an aperture 

 at one end, and always with the ends of the spermatozoa pro- 

 jecting through their chitinous (?) walls. These spermatozoa are 

 capable of individual movement, which results in a movement as a 

 whole of the spermatophore. They are invariably found in the 

 spermathecae. Of the tirst kind of spermatophores, it is certain 

 now that they are formed by the epithelium surrounding the 

 terminal male efferent apparatus. The second kind of spermato- 

 phores seem to be, in the case of the Tubificideo at least, moulded 

 \n the spermathecce, though the precise nature of their origin is 



^ See below (p. 351) for a description and figures of tliese sacs. 



