THE GIANT EARTH-WORM OF GIPPSLAND. it 
Within the cuticle (Plate 2, fiz. 6) lies the epidermis (epi.), the cells of which 
are, asin Lwmbricus, somewhat shorter than those elsewhere ; their oval nuclei are 
very distinct, and their inner ends seem to merge into the thick basement membrane 
mentioned above. A few goblet cells can be seen, but not nearly so many as in the 
extra-clitellar region. There cannot be detected the narrow elongated cells con- 
taining granules similar to those found in the goblet cells, and remarkable for being 
some three times the leneth of the epidermic cells, such as are described in Lumbricus 
and Microcheta. 
Within the epidermis in Megascolides lies a great development of glandular cells 
(gl.) packed more or less closely together, and of very varying sizes. Some are 
almost globular, others almost, save for their rounded bases, columnar. All are filled 
with a granular material arranged in a meshwork in which les a very distinct oval 
nucleus. These cells have long ducts leading towards the exterior and swollen 
internal ends, and are many times longer than the epidermic cells. 
Possibly some of the more elongate external lying ones may correspond to those 
mentioned above as present in Lumbricus and Microcheta, but they, at all events, 
differ from these in not having branched bases, a condition which does not seem to 
obtain in any cells in the clitellum of Megascolides. 
Bznuam in Microcheta describes special strands of connective tissue as running 
down amongst the gland cells, and continuous with the network at the base of the 
epidermic cells; this is doubtless equivalent to a curious development seen in 
Megascolides, which consists of radial, somewhat wavy-looking, strands of a perfectly 
homogeneous material, which pass down amongst the gland cells from the basement 
membrane beneath the epidermis, till the circular muscles are reached, upon which 
the strands branch and lie flat (ct, fig. 6). This same material forms a surrounding 
to the openings of the nephrial tubes as they pass through the clitellum (Fig. 28, ct.) 
This glandular portion is very rich in blood-vessels, and the latter have a very 
definite arrangement, usually forming distinct coils (Fig. 6 and 28, bv.) One of these 
coils always accompanies each nephridial tube, and all have a definite radial 
arrangement. 
Bepparp figures in Acanthodrilus a blood-vessel, accompanying the nephridial 
tube, and forming a very distinct loop around the latter, just beneath the epidermis ; 
this loop enclosing the nephridial tube seems to be absent in Megascolides, but the 
two forms agree in having a special vessel running with the tube apart from, and in 
addition to the copious supply of blood-vessels on the nephridium itself. 
Numerous more irregularly arranged blood-vessels are present, and pass up close 
to the bases of the epidermic cells, between which they may penetrate. The clitellar 
region has a very marked development of pigment. The dark red-brown colouring 
matter is distributed principally in irregularly arranged stellate masses, close beneath 
the epidermis, and also along the paths of the blood-vessels. To this pigment, 
and the great development of blood-vessels, the clitellar region owes its dark colour. 
c 2 
