168 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh, [april 4, 
aussi chez les Pontodrilus. Les Lombrics au contraire semblent 
d’apr&s les auteurs, se comporter comme les Urochceta.” 
M. Perrier figures ( loc . cit., pi. xvi. figs. 38, 39) the isolated 
nepbridia, which obviously could not be detached entire if the funnel 
were not situated in the same segment as that which bears the 
external pore. Nevertheless, in my species I observed in numerous 
cases that the internal funnel of the nephridium is situated in the 
segment anterior to that which bears the external pore. I was able 
to prove this point conclusively by a series of longitudinal sections. 
It may be that Perrier’s specimens and mine differ in this respect, 
which is certainly rather remarkable. Perrier’s assertion about 
Lumbricus is evidently a slip. The funnel (figs. 6, 7, 8) of the 
nephridium recalls that of Dendrobcena rubida (Yejdovsky, System 
u. Morph, d. Oligochceten , pi. xiv. figs. 15, 16) in the extraordinary 
development of cells, doubtfully regarded by Yejdovsky as peritoneal 
cells, at the apex of the funnel. 
A series of remarkable structures, termed by Perrier “ glandes 
posterieures,” and described by him as a portion of the excretory 
system, now remains for consideration. 
These bodies are found as in V. corethrurus in the hinder region 
of the body, but appear to be more numerous than in that species, 
which has about forty pairs occupying as many segments. 
M. Perrier gives a figure of one of theseglands (loc. cit., p. xvii. fig, 
47), which only partially indicates their structure, as seen in my own 
preparations. They are somewhat pear-shaped, and terminate in a 
long slender peduncle, which disappears among the coils of the 
nephridial tubules. Perrier supposes that they open in common 
with the latter on to the exterior, but was unable to detect the 
orifice. Mr Benham* has detected these peculiar glands — “ pyri- 
form bodies ” — in his genus Urobenus , and his description of their 
minute structure agrees pretty closely with my own observations ; 
these glands open in Urobenus ventrally of the lower pair of setse, 
while the nephridia open by the dorsal setse. 
Pig. 4 represents one of those glands in Urochceta in longitudinal 
section, reconstructed from a series of sections. It will be seen 
that its structure is closely similar to that of the same glands in 
Urobenus. The lumen of the gland is lined by a single row of 
* Quart. Jour. Mic. Sci., 1886, p. 87, pi. viii. figs. 10, 21. 
