634 MR FRANK E. BEDDARD ON THE 



This distinction may not, however, be so important as it at first sight appears to be ; 

 and in any case we have as yet no information as to the condition of the clitellum in 

 Moniligaster, a genus which shows so many important resemblances to certain Limicolous 

 genera, though undoubtedly an earthworm. In the minute structure of its clitellum, 

 Phreoryctes seems to agree pretty closely with Rhynchelmis, as described by 

 Vejdovsky [B 3 J. 



Vascular System. 



The vascular system of Phreoryctes Smithii consists, as in the other two species of 

 the genus, of a dorsal and ventral trunk, which are united by transverse branches. 



Fig. 7 illustrates the arrangement of the vascular trunks in some of the posterior 

 trunks. It will be seen that the dorsal and ventral vessels are here connected in each 

 segment by a transverse pair of trunks which do not pass straight from the dorsal to the 

 ventral vessel, but have a very sinuous course. The coils of these lateral vessels are not, 

 however, so complicated as in the anterior segments, and their calibre is also less. These 

 vessels, moreover, are not invested by a thick sheath of peritoneal cells like the anterior 

 lateral trunks. The vascular trunks of these posterior segments are precisely like those 

 of Phreoryctes jiliformis, as described and figured by Vejdovsky [A 11, pi. xii. figs. 

 8, 9]. In Phreoryctes Menheanus the lateral trunks are only connected with the ventral 

 vessel ; they arise from the latter, and pass round the circumference of the ccelom for a 

 considerable distance, but do not join the dorsal vessel. 



Reproductive Organs. 



In my previous paper upon the anatomy of Phreorytes Smithii, I was able to describe 

 the testes and the ovaries as well as the efferent ducts. The specimen described in that 

 paper was not fully mature, and I could find therefore no trace of the sperm-sacs and 

 ovisacs, of which an account is given in the present paper. 



The testes are, as stated before, two pairs situated in segments X. and XL; they are 

 not, however, of a simple conical form in the fully developed worm, but prolonged into 

 several processes ; the digitate shape is due to the rapid and unequal proliferation of the 

 testicular cells. The genera Lumbricus and Allolobophora (among others) have been 

 distinguished by the form of the testes, which have been figured as of conical form in the 

 one, and digitate in the other ; it is very possible that this difference does not really exist, 

 but that it is merely due to the stage of development at which the organs have been 

 studied ; such a difference occurs at any rate in Phreoryctes. 



Vasa Deferentia. 



There are two pairs of these ducts, which open independently of each other on to 

 segments XL and XII. 



