ON ANNELIDA. 127 



also very complicated in this genus of animals, first, because 

 the two sexes exist in each individual, and secondly, because 

 each of the sexual organs is very much developed. 



The female sex is composed of several parts, all accumu- 

 lated at a little distance from the posterior genital orifice, 

 which belongs to it. There are at first two ovaries, ovoid, 

 or sub-globular, placed in front of the orifice ; from each of 

 these springs a very short oviduct, but by its union to its 

 congener is formed a single canal, directed from behind 

 forwards, and projecting almost entire into a pouch or sort of 

 matrix with distinct parietes, mucous and contractile, and the 

 neck of which is extended as far as the external orifice. 



The male sex is still more complicated, and much more 

 extended. It is formed of a complex secretory organ, of an 

 excretory canal with epididymis, and finally of an excitatory 

 organ with its sheath. 



The secretory organ is composed of a series of small white 

 globular masses on each side of the intestinal canal, between 

 the sinuses of the stomach, contained in the cellular tissue, 

 but certainly without any adherence to the skin. Each little 

 mass is nothing but a white vesicle with very slender pa- 

 rietes, and contains a whitish fluid. Each of these fur- 

 nishes a small white canal, which is soon united to a 

 common canal, situated at the external side of the series, and 

 which advances directly, making, however, many sinuosities 

 from rear to front. When this canal has arrived towards the 

 genital region, its diameter diminishes in a sensible manner, 

 and it comes in connexion with a white ovaliform mass, 

 which seems formed by the crowded convolutions of this 

 canal, so as to represent the disposition of the cerebral con- 

 volutions in the mammifera. From this mass issues a dis- 

 tinct canal, cemented against it, and which terminates at the 

 root of the sheath of the excitatory organ. This sheath, con- 



