LIVING BRACHIOPODA. 361 



This name was adopted by Claparede in his remarkable researches on the annehds of the 

 Bay of Naples. So absolutely identical are these organs in details of structure, attach- 

 ments within, their associated parts and external openings, with those of certain 

 chaetopod worms that the description of these parts might be taken from Claparede with 

 hardly the alteration of a single word. The wide divergence in the form of these organs 

 in worms is, with the exception of the length and convolution of the tube, paralleled in 

 the Brachiopoda, as may be seen by an examination of the figures given in plates 54, 55, 

 56. Gegenbaur ('78) properly objected to the name segmental organs as other organs 

 and parts are repeated segmentally. There is, however, no end of inappropriate names 

 for organs and groups in the animal kingdom. What more ridiculous than the name 

 Mollusca or more preposterous than the name Brachiopoda as applied by Cuvier, based 

 on false homologies. Nevertheless as these organs are now recognized under the name 

 nephridia in worms and other divisions of the animal kingdom, it is well to apply the 

 same name to these parts in the Brachiopoda. It is not yet estabhshed that these parts 

 are renal in their nature. One thing, however, is certain and that is, that they are 

 plainly oviducts, and this would be a far more appropriate name for them. 



In a general way, it may be stated that, with the exception of Hemithyris which has 

 two pairs of nephridia, the genera thus far observed have but a single pair. In the 

 Lingulidae, the nephridia are quite constant in their form and position, while those of 

 Discinisca and Crania are quite different in form. Among the Testicardines, the nephridia 

 vary greatly in the different genera. In T. coreanica, the tube is abruptly bent upon 

 itself. In T. septentrionalis, the nephrostome stands at a sUght angle from the tube. 

 In Dallbia grayii, the nephrostomes are close together and the tubes are straight, the 

 nephrostome much exceeding, in diameter, the tube. In Hemithyris, the nephridia are 

 quite wide apart, and the tube is short, and wider in diameter than the nephrostome. In 

 all, however, the nephrostome is crenulated and strongly ciliated, and in all, with the 

 exception of Discinisca and Crania, a more or less sharp constriction separates the 

 nephrostome from the body of the nephridium, and in all, with the exception of 

 Discinisca, the body of the nephridium is thickened, glandular and has a pronounced 

 color. In Glottidia, it is a rich dark orange ; in L. anatina, it is marked by dark, maroon 

 lines ; in Terebratulina, it is a yellowish brown ; in Dallina grayii, it is a rich, rose color 

 streaked with darker areas. 



The position of the nephridia in the Lingulidae has been so well defined by authors 

 that it is only necessary to call attention to their appearance in life. In Glottidia (54; 9) , 

 the body of the nephridium lies parallel to the lateral body wall, the central axis of the 

 nephrostome standing at nearly right angles to the longitudinal axis of the organ. The 

 nephrostome is turned closely to the body wall. It is rather deep, slightly flaring at the 



