462 



ZOOLOGY 



The female reproductive organs consist of a pair of ovaries, a 

 pair o( oviducts with a pair oi rer<',ptaciiJit, ovorum, and two pairs of 

 rcrcptaciiJa scmin/is. The omrlcs (ov) are minute pear-shaped bodies, 

 which are situated in the thirteenth segment, attached to the 

 septum between the twelfth and thirteenth. Tlie oviducts {ov. d) 

 are a pair of short tubes, each with a comparatively wide funnel- 

 shaped opening into the cavit}^ of the thirteenth segment, and 

 extending backwards and outwards in the fourteenth segment to 

 open at the female aperture on the ventral surface of the latter. 

 The recrptncula ovorujn are a pair of reniform sacs which open into 



ant vessem anl.spres 



inl itiC nay uit / i/ii 





-v.eff-- 



. 363. — Iiumbricus herculeus. Reproductive organs, ant. sjh ret. anterior sperm reser- 

 voir; ai^f.ves. sent, anterior left vesiculaseminalis ; fim. funnellilie openings of vasa efferentia; 

 '/at. intermuscular partitions ; mid. ves. sem. middle vcsicula seininalis ; n. co. nerve-cord ; ov. 

 ovaries; ov. d. oviducts; post. .tp. res. posterior sperm-reservoir; post. ves. .^tra. posterior 

 vesicula seminalis ; -rec. reeeptacula seminis ; te, anterior, and te\ posterior testes ; *'. c.^. 

 anterior, and v. cjff' . posterior v.as efferens ; v. def. V(\sa deferentia. (After Vogt and Jung.) 



the funnel-shaped ends of the oviducts. The recrptacula seminis 

 (rcf) are two pairs of rounded sacs which open on the exterior 

 in the intervals between the ninth and tenth, and tenth and 

 eleventh segments. 



Though hermaphrodite, the Earthworm is not self-impregnating, 

 but two individuals provide for mutual fertilisation by an act of 

 copulation. The copulating individuals apply themselves together 

 by their ventral surfaces, the heads pointing in opposite directions, 

 and become attached in this position by the setse of the genital 

 region and by a viscid secretion from the clitellum and of 



