202 BEDDARD. 



That section of the oesophagus which immediately follows the 

 gizzard and lies in segments X, XI, XII, and perhaps XIII, is 

 very vascular and has thick walls ; it evidently corresponds to the 

 region which in other earthworms is furnished with those glan- 

 dular outgrowths known as calciferous glands. The gizzard is 

 well developed and shows nothing remarkable in its form. 



The spermathec^ are 3 pairs and lie in segments VII, VIII, IX, 

 opening as already stated. They are, long and oval, measuring 

 5 millimeters in length, and have a short, but perfectly distinct, 

 muscular duct. The diverticulum has a slender duct and long, 

 oval, swollen extremity ; it is of about one-half the length of the 

 pouch. 



The ovaries are large and lie in segment XIII. Well above 

 each is a longish narrower ovisac. 



The testicular sacs of this representative of the genus are 

 remarkable. Attached to the front of the wall separating seg- 

 ments X, XI, that is, lying in segment X, is a smallish, irregularly 

 spherical sac which I identify with the anterior testicular sac 

 from its position and general relations. From the opposite side 

 of the septum, that is, in the Vlth segment, the sperm duct could 

 be clearly seen running from the septum on to the ventral 

 parietes. Shortly after leaving the posterior face of septum 

 X/XI, a slender tube was seen to leave the sperm duct, to swell 

 out into a lateral, circular diverticulum, and then to join the 

 testicular sac affixed to the posterior wall of segment XL This 

 tube, widened in the way described, is evidently the connection 

 between the two successive testicular sacs of segments X and XL 

 These sacs are well known to be connected in certain species of 

 earthworms, such as Pheretima montana (according to Udc) ,^* 

 and not to be so connected in others; for example, P. bengue- 

 tensis, described in the present memoir. 



The mode of connection seen in P. americanorum is quite 

 unusual in the genus and, I think, at present unique. It should be 

 explained that the delicate tube which appears to leave the sperm 

 duct and which communicates with the testicular sac of segment 

 XI is not a diverticulum of the sperm duct. Although I have not 

 made a microscopical examination of these parts, I presume that 

 the tube merely envelopes the sperm duct and is an outgrowth 

 from the testicular, sac of segment X. 



The sperm sacs of this species are 2 pairs and lie in segments 

 X and XL They are somewhat tongue-shaped, and arise from a 



^'Ztschr. f. wiss. Zool. (1905), 83, 477, fig. 4. 



