ON A NEW SPECIES OF LITTORAL OL1GOCHJKTA. 



25 



the outer thicker layer of more granular pear-shaped cells. The lumen 

 is not ciliated. The part of the vas deferens enclosed in the spermiducal 

 gland traverses the outer layer of the wall, so that in sections of the 

 gland there appear two cavities, one that of the spermiducal gland and 

 the other that of the vas deferens. 



The ciliated epithelial wall of the vas deferens passes rather 

 abruptly into the inner wall of the gland (fig. 0) 



B. Systematic position of the new species. 



From the. above description, it is evident that this annelid belongs 

 to the family Cryptodrilidos, as defined by F. E. Beddahd in his 

 " Monograph of the ( )rder of Oligochfeta." The generic determination 

 however offers some difficulty. The genus to which the present annelid 

 comes very closely in several respects is undoubtedly Pontodrilus,* to 

 which I refer it after all. But the ont;, by no means unimportant 

 descrepancy consists in the fact that that genus has the " vasa deferentia 

 opening at the junction of the glandular and muscular parts," whereas in 

 the present species, the vas deferens distinctly opms into one end of the 

 glandular portion of the spermiducal gland, the other end leading to the 

 male pore, — a condition which obtains in the genera Monilir/aster and 

 Ilyodrilus, which however belong to families quite distinct from Cnjpto- 

 drilidce. In all other points the present species tallies well with the 

 definition of Pontodrilus as given by Beddarp. As the exact relation 

 of the vas deferens and the spermiducal gland in Pontodrilus bas prob- 

 ably never been subjected to careful examination by means of serial 

 sections, the existing statement concerning it may be considered as open 



* Beddabd's definition of Pontodrilus : — 



" Slender worms with eight setae per segment, in pairs, the setae of th? dorsal pail- 

 being usually further apart than those of the ventral. Xo dorsal pores. 

 Clitellum complete X1II-XVII Male pores XVIII. Spermiducal gland 

 tubular, vasa deferentia opening at junction of glandular and muscular parts. 

 Xo penial setae. Spermathecos in Vili, IX, with siugle diverticulum. Gizzard 

 absent or rudimentary ; no calciferous glands. Xephridia commence in segment 

 XIII or XV. Xo subnervian blood-vessel." 



