FEANK E. BEDDAED— VERMES. 35 



The male pore is a single aperture like the spermathecal pore. It lies exactly on 

 the boundary-line of segments xvii. and xviii. It is considerably larger than the 

 spermathecal pore, and the actual orifice is surrounded by an area having a rather 

 transparent appearance. There is no protrusion of the Bursa propulsoria, nor is the 

 orifice vsituated upon an area which is at all raised beyond the general level of the 

 body. Apart from the slightly modified integument surrounding the male pore, 

 which has no counterpart in the case of the spermathecal pore, the body of this 

 species shows no genital papillw. 



With regard to internal structures I have no observations to make, save those 

 based upon examination with a lens and a microscope in the case of detached pieces 

 of certain organs atid systems. I have not investigated this Eudrilid by means of 

 sections on account of its poor state of preservation. 



With regard to the alimentary tract, the paired calciferous glands seem to me to 

 be rather further back than the thirteenth segment, but as the worm was much 

 softened I should not like to be quite certain. The condition of the proximal 

 swellings upon the sperm-ducts seems in this genus to offer systematic characters for 

 the differentiation of the species. For in N. tenuis these " Samenmagazine " are 

 hardly marked at all, and they are quite conspicuous in N. siphonochwta. In the 

 present species these structures are present, but rather different in their condition 

 from those of some other Eudrilidse. Each of these swellings upon the sperm-duct is 

 of oval form, tapering towards each end ; but instead of lying immediately after the 

 funnel of the sperm-duct, there is a considerable stretch of narrow tubular sperm-duct 

 before the funnel. The latter lies deep within the sperm-sac. I have observed the 

 characters of these bodies in the smaller specimens, but not in that from which the 

 present description of the species has been prepared. 



The terminal male efferent apparatus is constituted as follows : — Each of the two 

 prostate or spermiducal glands measured about 10 mm. in length, and each gland was 

 folded only once upon itself, thus forming a U. The diameter of each gland was 

 not more than, if indeed quite so much as, 1 mm. The (morphologically) posterior 

 end of each gland lay further forwards in the body than the proximal or anterior end 

 of each spermiducal gland. xlnteriorly each tubular spermiducal gland suddenly 

 narrowed to form a firm and slender duct ; the two ducts running backwards soon 

 join and form an unpaired tube which constitutes one limb of a U, the anteriorly 

 directed limb being the Bursa propulsoria. The spermiducal glands have a soft 

 opaque appearance; they are not hard and with a nacreous glitter as in some 

 Eudrilids. On the other hand, the Bursa propulsoria has an almost metallic 

 appearance to the naked eye. It is slender and fusiform. There are no penial setae. 



The spermathecal gland of this Eudrilid was unfortunately cut into when the 

 animal was slit open along the back. It is more or less globular in shape, and 

 occupies about the first half of the clitellum. It is quite dorsal in position, lying 



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