382 MTt. F. E. BEDDAED 0> T TWO [Apr. 17| 



like excretory tubes in the usual " plectonephric " genera ; they 

 give the impression rather of minute pouches opening on to the 

 exterior. A closer survey, however, of their structure shows that 

 there is really nothing anomalous about them. The vesicular 

 layer of cells commonly found attached to the exterior of the 

 tubules is here so largely developed that the appearance referred 

 to is produced. 



Most of the other characters of the genus are such as are to be 

 met with in other Cryptodrilids. The affinities which they 

 indicate are, however, not very plain. The presence of two 

 gizzards — to commence with perhaps the least important of these 

 characters — is found in the genera Digaster (with which I unite 

 Didymogaster and Perrisog aster of Fletcher), Dichogaster, and 

 Microdrilus. All of the genera mentioned also agree -with Mill- 

 sonia in the diffuse nephridial system. The last two Cryptodrilids, 

 as well as Typhosus, agree with Millsonia in that the male pores are 

 upon the xviith instead of the more usual xviiith segment. 

 Finally the calciferous glands are, as in Microdrilus, in segments 

 xv.-xvii. The absence of the penial seta? distinguishes Millsonia 

 from all the Cryptodrilids mentioned except Dichogaster. Mill- 

 sonia shows, as I have already intimated, some likeness to the 

 Eudrilids. This likeness, however, is shown only by the species 

 Millsonia nigra. The resemblance consists first of all in the 

 unpaired male pore ; the unpaired genital orifices are not abso- 

 lutely unknown in the Cryptodrilids, since they are met with in 

 the genus Fletcherodrihis. But in addition to their being unpaired 

 in the worm now under discussion, there are a pair of terminal 

 muscular sacs which are like the bursa copulatrix of many Eudri- 

 lids. The genus Nannodrilus which I describe in the present 

 paper is the only other Cryptodrilid in which there is a similar 

 bursa or rather a pair of them. But I am disposed to consider 

 that the terminal sac which is found appended to the end of the 

 duct of the spermiducal glands in many Perichcetr* is the homologue 

 of the structure so universal in the Eudrilids. So that the exist- 

 ence of well-developed bursa? in Millsonia is not a fact of absolute 

 novelty for the family. 



Millsonia rubens, n. sp. (Fig. 2, p. 381.) 



Dee. Length 320 mm. ; diameter 12 mm. Number of segments 

 363. Male pores paired. Ao bursa copulatrix. 



External characters. — This worm was remarkable on account of 

 its peculiar coloration. In alcohol the front end of the body, 

 in front of the clitellum, is of a pale violet-grey. The clitellum 

 itself is of a pale brown. Behind the clitellum the colour is a 

 brick-red, a tint that I have never before seen in any Earthworm. 

 The prostomium is large and does not at all encroach upon the 

 buccal segment. The setse, as already mentioned in the definition 

 of the genus, are very strictly paired ; they lie entirely upon the 

 ventral surface of the body. A distance of 2 mm. separates the 



