SOME LITTORAL OLIGOCH ATA OF THE CLYDE. 61 
the spermatheca as squarish, with no special bulging anywhere; while, according to 
GoopricH, the cesophageal and external openings of the spermatheca are about at the 
same level, but the cavity of the ampulla is produced backwards into a large posterior 
sac. In my specimens the spermathecee appear in an early stage of their development 
as simple tubes, not dilated anywhere, passing obliquely backwards from their external 
opening between segments iv. and v..to the cesophacus. In the fully formed organ the 
ampulla is large, ovoid in shape, with long diameter antero-posterior ; it fills up the 
space on each side between the cesophagus and body-wall. It opens into the cesophagus 
near its posterior end, the aperture of communication being ventrally placed with regard 
to the cavity of the ampulla. In front the ampulla passes into the duct, the boundary 
between the two being, in the fully dilated condition of the ampulla, quite sudden. 
The duct is about as long as the ampulla, and forms a stout tube, straight, or more 
usually, in the contracted condition of the animal, somewhat bent; the outline of the 
tube is irregular, appearing to be studded with small excrescences ; these irregularities 
are due to the projection of the cells of which it is composed beyond the muscular layer. 
Some ciliated parasites were seen on one occasion in the body-cavity. 
I think there is no doubt that this worm is most suitably included under £. albidus, 
in spite of a few divergences from previous descriptions. These divergences seem to be 
the following :—(i.) Extent of clitellum ; this MicHarELsEN gives as half xi. to half xiii., 
while his figure shows it as extending nearly to the anterior border of xi., and leaving 
a large part of xiii. unineluded ; (ii.) the lymph-corpuscles (v. sup.) ; (ill.) the dark spots 
on the cerebral ganglion (which may, however, merely have gone unrecorded) ; (iv.) the 
difference in the canals of the ventral nerve-cord in MIcHAELSEN’s description and mine ; 
(v.) the difference in the shape of the spermathecee. To these may be added the fact 
that I have not noted in my specimens collections of sensory cells near the apertures of 
the spermathecee, as figured by MIcHAELSEN. 
Fiidericia bulbosa (Rosa). 
This species is widely distributed, and has recently been recorded from Ireland (14). 
It appears, however, to be somewhat variable, and different authors have given different 
descriptions of, for example, the shape of the cerebral ganglion, the form of the pepto- 
nephridia, and the ducts of the spermathecze with regard to the presence or absence of 
gland-cells round the orifice. A brief account of the features in which, from the 
descriptions of previous observers, some amount of variation appears to have been 
established, may therefore be of interest. 
The first point is the habitat of the Millport specimens. They were found under 
stones, between tide-marks, at Balloch. The species lives, according to MicHasLsEN (10), 
in rotten wood or damp leaves; indeed the genus Mridericia as a whole “is terrestrial, 
and found in the driest localities” (Bepparp, 1, p. 312), a fact which Bepparp brings 
into relation with the occurrence of dorsal pores in the genus. 
