Contributions to a Knoioledge of South African Oligochaeta — Part I. 233 
The male pores, as previously indicated, lie on each ventro-lateral 
region of segment xii. 
The female pore could not be clearly made out, but observations 
suggest that in all probability it opens in common with the male 
pore, or, rather, immediately behind it. 
In segments x, xi, there is a large median mass of developing 
spermatozoa, but no traces of masses of mature elements. Similarly 
there is an absence of such in the spermathecae, indicating that the 
breeding-time has not been reached. 
The masses of spermatozoa in x, xi, resembling in position similar 
masses in Phreodrilidae, may be taken as indicating that the testes occupy 
the position usual in other genera. 
Further, the funnel of the spermduct opens into xi. Masses of ova 
were found in xiv, xv. These clumps appear to be in close apposition 
and relation ? with the blood vascular system. 
The spermathecae are paired structures situated in xiv immediately 
latero-dorsal to the alimentary canal. In longitudinal section each is 
elliptical. From the antero- ventral or ventral side the sperm athecal duct 
passes down towards the ventral surface behind the septum separating 
xiii, and xiv. This duct instead of leading into the spermathecal chamber 
so that its wall becomes directly confluent with that of the chamber, 
becomes thickened so that its lumen communicates with that of the 
chamber at the summit of a large papilla which projects into the interior 
of the spermatheca. 
The spermathecal duct on nearing the ventral surface pierces the 
septum and passes forwards into xiii. After a slightly tortuous course it 
then ascends obliquely and forwards to open into the posterior end of a 
cylindrical chamber, which is an extension backwards and dorsally from 
the penial chamber. 
The most noteworthy feature about the spermathecae is the marked 
thinness of the wall, at least in part, when compared with the wall of the 
corresponding chamber in other genera such as Phreodrilus and Asta- 
copsidrilus. The posterior and dorsal wall is so thin and indistinct in our 
specimens that it is difficult, except that assistance is rendered by the 
thicker anterior and ventral part of the wall, to make out histological 
details. 
On first examination we were struck with the great resemblance 
between the wall of the spermatheca in part, and the inter-segmental 
septa, which suggested that these chambers were of the same nature and 
origin as those found in Eudrilidae. 
The histology of the wall is better understood by a study of the 
spermathecal duct. The wall of this tube is composed of three layers : — 
(a) The lining layer consists of large cuneate cells bounding a 
