STRUCTURE OF UROCH^TA AND DICHOGASTER. 267 
Benliara (9, No. 1) in the presence in each segment of a 
pair of large nephridia, opening by a funnel into the segment 
in front, in addition to the tufts of minute tubules present in 
these types. In one or two species from Australia, described 
by Mr. Fletcher (16), only the large pair of nephridia are 
present. The minute tufts of tubules are unrepresented. 
There is, however, a close resemblance between the nephridia 
of P. armata and those of Megascolides australis, which 
have been briefly described in a note published in ‘ Nature ’ of 
June 28th, 1888, by Professor Baldwin Spencer. I have not 
yet had the opportunity of seeing Professor Spencer's detailed 
memoir upon this most interesting genus of Earthworms, but 
the note referred to is an abstract of the more important results 
of his investigation of the nephridial system. 
It appears that in the anterior segments of Megascolides 
there are abundant scattered tuft6 of minute nephridial tubules, 
which are connected by a network lying within the peritoneum 
and extending from segment to segment. In the posterior 
segments of the body there are in addition a pair of coiled 
nephridial tubes of a very much greater calibre than the minute 
tubules. Each of these opens by a funnel into the segment in 
front, and they are connected by a continuous longitudinal duct 
which runs from segment to segment. These larger nephridia, 
as well as the longitudinal duct, are also in connection with the 
system of minute tubules ; the latter have no ciliated funnels 
but open externally by numerous pores. 
In P. armata I have not actually traced the nephridial 
tubules through the body wall to their point of opening on to 
the exterior. I have, however, found upon the cuticle the 
nephridiopores, which were abundant in each segment, and 
agreed in all particulars with those of P. aspergillum (see 
p. 265), so that I cannot admit any doubt as to the resemblance 
in this particular between the nephridia of P. armata and those 
of P. aspergillum. I have also been unable to detect any 
ciliated funnels except those belonging to the large pair of 
nephridia. In all these points, therefore, there is au agreement 
with Megascolides. But the nephridial tufts of P. armata 
