378 MR. F. £. BEDDAUD ON THE [Apr. 19, 



Perrier's figure {he. cit. pi. ii. fig. 26) ; Perrier })laces the ovary in 

 the same segment as that which contains the external orifice, and is 

 so far in accord with myself; but the oviduct is represented as lying 

 behind the ovaiy instead of in fiont of it. 



In one of the tno specimens which I investii;ated by means of 

 sections, I found a body corresponding exactly in position to the 

 ovary in the majority of Lumbricidae ; a pair of small cellular bodies 

 exist on the anteiior mesentery of segment 13 near to the ventral 

 median line ; the-e bodies are composed of small indifferent cell-;, and 

 resemble very closely the testes of the same worm ; each of these is sur- 

 rounded (Plate XXX I II. fig. -J) by a muscular sac which is continuous 

 with a duct ; the duct appears to open into the duct of the sperma- 

 theca op[iosite to the orifice of the glandular diverticulum; I suc- 

 ceeded in tracing it forward nearly to this point, but did not observe 

 its actual orifice. The cellular body was attached to the mesenteric 

 wall, and was entiiely free from its enveloping muscular sac ; this 

 fact, as well as the evident immaturity of the gland, naturally 

 suggested that the connection with the duct was secondary. Three 

 were no traces of cilia in the duct. These glands occupy a position 

 exactly coi responding to that of the te--tes, i. e. just above "the ventral- 

 most setEe, while the ovary of segment 14 has a similar i elation to 

 the dorsal setae (see woodcut, fig. 1, p. 281). 



It might ea>ily, therefore, be suggested that the structure on the 

 13th mesenteiy is the true ovary, and that the sup[iosed ovary in 

 the next segment is really the equivalent of the leceptaculum ovorum. 

 The position of the different organs referred to is in accord with such 

 an interpretation ; that is to say, their [o-ition so far as concerns 

 the Begments which they occupy. The positio;i of the several struc- 

 tures within the segment, however, differs : the glandular body of 

 the 13th segment corresj onds exactly with the testes (see below, 

 p. 381, fig. 1) ; a straight line connecting the testes and the glandular 

 body of the 13th segment would run exactly parallel with the long 

 axis of the body ; on the contrary the ovaries of the l4th segment 

 are placed much further away from the vential median line of 

 the body, and are placed not very far from the female geneiative 

 pore. 



This alteration of position, bowever, may have beeu produced 

 during the growth of the OA-ary and its duct ; and in any case it is a 

 fact which may be used with equal force as an argument either for 

 or against the supposition that the ovaries of segment 14 are 

 ovaries or receptacula. The principal arguments in favour of 

 regardii'g the ovaries of segment 14 as real ovaries are : — 



(1) 'Ihe fact that the ova undergo their whole course of develop- 

 ment in those bodies ; indifferent germinal cells can be traced through 

 all the intermediate stages into fully developed ova. Tlie receptaculu 

 of other Earthworms, on tl;e contrary, contain only adult or nearly 

 adult ova. 



(2) The presence of rudimentary ovaries (?) in segment 13, whose 

 structure and relation to their duct suggests how the continuity be- 

 tween the supposed ovary and its duct of segment 14 may have been 



