214 Mil. F. E. BEDDARD OX THE OLIGOCH.ETE [Mar. 6, 



it. But they appear to me distinctly to enter the epidermis 

 itself. 



As in other species, there are two pairs of strongly muscular 

 hearts in segments x. and xi. 



The spermathecce are ^eiy lai-ge thin-walled sacs, occupying a 

 large j)ortion of the interior of segment ix. The duct of the 

 spei'matheca is very narrow and moderately long. I could find 

 no diverticulum. The testes (two pairs) lie in segments x., xi. 

 opposite to the conspicvious sperm-duct funnels. They are both 

 unenclosed by sperm-sacs. These segments contain masses of 

 developing spermatozoa, which suggest at first sight sperm-sacs. 

 They are, however, unenclosed by any membrane. 



The sjjerm-sacs lie in segments ix. and xii., and, as in other 

 worms, are developed from the posteiior and antei-ior walls of 

 those segments respectively. 



The male efiei-ent apparatus conforms to the tyjoe seen in other 

 species of this genus. The male pore, as has already been 

 mentioned, is upon segment xvii. This pore is situated upon a 

 prominent hemispheiical papilla, which has not the structure of 

 the adjacent clitellum, but consists of tall non-glandular cells, much 

 taller than the cells of the non-clitellar regions of the integument 

 and between which are no glandulai- cells. Both of the ventral setpe 

 are present, and it is to the outside of these that the actual pore 

 is to be found. Thei-e is a common pore for the atrium and 

 the sperm-duct ; but the two tubes are confluent only within 

 the thickness of the body- wall. The atria extend back for a 

 considei"able distance behind their point of opening, for at least 

 ten segments. The minute structure of the atria needs apparently 

 no description ; for they do not seem to differ from those of other 

 species. It must be remarked, however, that the atria are distinctly 

 divisible into the distal glandular region and a proximal thick- 

 walled duct. There is a, sharp differentiation between these two 

 regions. 



The ovaries occupy the usual position in the xiiith segment 

 against the anterior wall of that segment. Opposite to them lie 

 the funnels of the oviducts. The oviducts themselves perforate 

 the body- wall and open to the exterior on the venti-al side of the 

 body, as already mentioned. It is noteworthy that an appreciable 

 region of the oviduct is clearly formed by an invagination from 

 the exterior ; for it is distinctly lined with cuticle continuous 

 with the cuticle covering the body. Thei^e is no I'eceptaeulum 

 ovorum, and this absence I i-athei- presume to be characteristic of 

 this genus and not merely distinctive of this and other species. 

 But although there is no receptaculum ovorum there is an 

 incipient tiuce of the complicated system of sacs which involve the 

 female reproductive oi'gans in the more highly developed Eudiilida?. 

 This fact is important to note, inasmuch as there are some grounds 

 for looking iipon this primitive family or subfamily of Oligochfeta, 

 as Michaelsen regards it (which includes the genera Kerria, 

 Nannodrilns, Ocnerodrihis and some others), as lying at the base 



