676 Proceedings of the Royal Society 
arrived at a similar conclusion as to M. Perrier’s results.* The facts, 
however, which I have detailed above seem to me to indicate that 
M. Perrier did not really absolutely prove any such connection 
between the ovary and the spermathecal duct; at the same time, I 
make these remarks with considerable hesitation, having had in the 
course of my own investigations into the structure of this group 
abundant evidence of the accuracy of M. Perrier’s drawings and 
description. The species of Eudrilus which I have myself 
studied does not appear to me to differ markedly, either in 
external characters or in anatomical structures, from Eudrilus 
peregrinus ; and I have already expressed doubts as to whether, for 
this reason, the species can be really indigenous to New Caledonia, 
whence it was sent to me. Whether or not the species is identical 
with Eudrilus peregrinus, there is little reason to suppose that the 
female generative organs would show any such differences in indi- 
viduals, or closely allied forms, as would appear to be the case from 
a comparison of Perrier’s with my own description : and I should 
mention that the facts brought forward in the present paper depend 
upon the examination of four ovaries and their ducts, two of which 
have been studied by simple dissection, and two by continuous series 
of transverse sections ; these latter are complete series, not a single 
section having been lost, and I have naturally retained them for 
reference. M. Perrier distinctly speaks of the ovary in Eudrilus 
peregrinus as being sessile upon the spermatheca; in E. Lacazii 
there is a small spherical body in the same position, as also in E. 
decipiens ; in neither of these latter species, however, does M. 
Perrier appear to have made out ova in the supposed ovaries, which 
may therefore be presumed with equal reason to represent the 
accessory glandular body of E. peregrinus. The figure illustrating 
the female generative apparatus is from E. decipiens; the most care- 
ful examination of my sections has revealed no structure which can 
possibly correspond to the diverticulum (petit tube entortille) of 
the spermatheca, except the oviduct ; nevertheless, the ovary appears, 
on a superficial view, to be sessile upon the duct of the spermatheca. 
This appearance may have misled M. Perrier, although the figure 
cited from his work appears to indicate that he made a dissection, 
and did not merely figure the various structures as they appear 
* Quart. Jour. Micr. Sci., 1886, p, 262. 
