210 Mil. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE OLIGOCHyETE [Mar. 6, 



sections. The external characters were partly obsei'ved by the 

 aid of a lens upon the uninjvired worm. The species possesses — 

 and this is quite unusvial for an Eudrilid — dorsal pores. This 

 peculiarity is, however, shared by Flatydrilus, with which genus 

 I cannot associate the present species. It is not mentioned in 

 Metschaina stictoria. The setaj are strictly paired, and do not 

 appear to difler in size anywhere. The male and female pores, 

 each of them single, were quite obvious upon segments xiii. and 

 xvii. The clitellum was undeveloped. 



In the aliinentary canal certain characters ai-e to be noted 

 which ai'e useful in defining the species. The gizzard, as is so 

 usually the case in the Eudrilidte, lies in segment v. There 

 are no additional gizzards at the commencement of the intestine, 

 such as occur, for example, in Lyhiodrilas. The intestine begins 

 in segment xvi., and the transition between oesophagus and 

 intestine is abrupt. The intestine is of greater calibre than the 

 oesophagus. The development of the modified calcifero^is glands 

 which characterise this section of the Eudiilidae is very great, 

 and I believe gi-eater than in any species where they have been 

 described. I find that they extend from segment v, to segment 

 XV. inclusive. As to their structure, they would appear to be 

 quite similar to those which I described in some detail a few 

 years back*. In the type species of this genus, the only one 

 known, the calciferous glands are less extensive, ending as they 

 do in segment xii. The anterior sej^ta are much thickened. The 

 first of this series is that separating segments v./vi. The last 

 separates xiii./xiv. The last two of these septa are not so very 

 strongly developed as those lying in front of them ; but they are, 

 nevertheless, distinguishable from those ^\'hich follow. 



The last ]yair of hearts, as in the Eudrilidaj generally, but not 

 apparently in 21. suctoria t, lie in segment xi. It is, of course, by 

 means of the reproductive system that the genei-a of Eudrilidse are 

 mainly to be distinguished. And it is for these reasons that I refer 

 this earthworm to the genus Metschaina. Opening on to segment 

 xiii. is a single median spermathecal pouch. This pouch extends 

 back as far as the fifteenth segment, and the last bit of it has 

 very thin walls, thus conti'asting with the anterior thickei'-walled 

 poi-tion. The pouch, as is geneiully the case, can really be 

 sepai'ated into a terminal atrivim which opens on to the exterior 

 and the sac of thinner texture which follows upon this. This 

 spermathecal sac seems to have no communication whatever 

 with the I'est of the female reproductive system. In this im- 

 portant point the present genus resembles Eudriloides only among 

 other allied Eudrilids. 



In front of the spermathecal sac and attached to the front wall 

 of segment xiii. lies the ovary or ovaries. I noted only one. A 

 remarkable fact about this gonad, as compared with the ovaries 

 of at least some other earthworms, is the fact that the ripe or 



* " Oligoclifeta of Eastern Tropical Africa," Quart. J. Micr. Sci. loc. cit. 

 t Michaelsen, Zool. Jahrb. Abth. f. Syst. xviii. 1903, p. 465. 



