150 
agrees well with that of pars interna vaginae. The muscularis has 
about the same thickness as the epithelium. Around the opening 
in the intestine the ductal epithelium continues as a short brim. 
In an easily recognizable and characteristic way the cells are filled 
with a dense protoplasma stainable with hematoxylin. The passage 
from the ductus to the intestine is open, and dilators are inserted 
at the place where the ductus reaches the intestine. The muscu¬ 
laris of the duet is here thinner and no special muscle-sphincter 
has been developed. 
That the connection between the genital and intestinal systems 
is not without results my sections bear full evidence. However, in 
the main intestine (Plate IV, Figs 24 and 31) there is no contents, 
but far away in the branching intestinal coeca of the hinder part 
of the body there are whole eggs and eggs-fragments. These lie 
free in the lumen and some appear very little affeeted. But, in 
the lumen of another coecum there is also a half-digested mass 
which, to judge from the structural aspect and staining effeets, 
must be derived from egg-material. The intestinal coeca show in 
most cases „hunger stages", as syncytia oceur very infrequently. 
In some syncytial formations I have, however, observed a few 
globules of yolk-matter, indicating that the usual phagocytosal 
« 
digestion also is represented in the sections. But usually the well- 
defined cells form a columnar epithelium. No evidence of sperma 
was found in my study of the intestinal system. This is hardly to 
be expected, however, as the uteri, though quite filled with ova, 
also seem to be entirely free from spermatozoa. 
The investigation shows that in Enterogonia the specimen's own 
eggs may casually play a role in the nourishment of the animal. 
This modus can hardly fill the needs of the animal to any great 
extent, when one considers the large dimensions and the exten- 
siveness of the digestive system. But, when no copulation has 
taken place, as is obvious in this case, it is undoubtedly an econ- 
omical method not to waste the unfertilized eggs, but to transfer 
them to the alimentary system, using them for the metabolic pro¬ 
cesses of the body and the production of fresh eggs in supplying 
the ovaries with the assimilates. The ductus g. i. is consequently, 
according to my view, an adaptment solely for taking care of 
superfluous material in the genital system trough a transmission 
to the intestine. 
