NEPHTHYDKLE. 3 



position of the various parts of the organ and increased the information concerning the 

 excretion of solid matters and other physiological features. The mode of exit of the 

 genital products is unknown. 1 



Goodrich has again examined the structure of the organ, and is of opinion that with 

 regard to the products of excretion they lie in a kind of sac formed of peritoneal 

 epithelium. Louis Fage 2 does not adopt F. Stewart's view that the amoebocytes from the 

 phagocyte organ enter the nephridial tube, but is inclined to think that they pass into 

 it by simple osmosis. Fage concludes by mentioning that the ciliated organ, shaped 

 like the shell of a Pecten, is present, and is largest in the middle and posterior regions, but 



,x x JL 



HI 



n.cajjy. 



71ZIC. 



"E.S.G, 



Fig. 36— Highly magnified representation of the solenocytes and segmental (nephridial) canal by Dr. Goodrich. 

 /, cilia ; nuc, nuclei ; pp, protoplasmic process of a solenocyte ; sol, solenocytes ; t, tubes connecting solenocytes 

 with the nephridial canal. 



has no internal opening, so that it is, he says, impossible for the genital products to find 

 their way outward by this means. He thinks that the ciliated organ only conducts 

 the solid particles of the coelom to the phagocyte organs. 



The eggs appear to be demersal, but the larvae are pelagic. 



As a family the Nephthydidae are characterised by great uniformity in the structure 

 of the bristles, so that it would not be easy to distinguish the species by this means, and 

 thus they differ from the majority of the Annelids. The characters of the feet, however, 

 are distinct, and whilst the sexual variations may not be fully known, their structure may 

 be considered reliable in discriminating the various forms. 



Few species possess eyes, yet several with such, e.g. NepMhys Verrilli, were described 

 in the collection of the ' Challenger,' 3 and this was a form allied to the K picta of Ehlers 

 in the structure of the feet. 



1 I am indebted to Dr. E. S. Goodrich for these figures (35 and 36). 



2 'Ann. Sc. Nat/ 9 e ser., p. 286. Figs. 11-16, pi. vi, figs. 5 and 6. He chiefly investigated 

 NepMhys Hombergii. 



3 Yol. xii, p. 163, pi. xxvi, f. 6, 7, pi. xxxia, fig. 8. 



