The female organs consist of a median unpaired ovary and a pair of oviducts, which are dilated for a great part of their course to perform a uterine function, and which open behind into a common vestibule communicating directly with the exterior.
Ovary.—In the specimen figured the following is the arrangement:
The ovary lies rather to the dorsal side in the central compartment of the body-cavity, and is attached to one of the longitudinal septa separating this from the lateral compartment. It lies between the penultimate and antepenultimate pair of legs.
The oviducts cross before opening to the exterior. The right oviduct passes under the rectum, and the left over the rectum. They meet by opening into a common vestibule, which in its turn opens to the exterior immediately ventral to the anus. It has not been ascertained how far this arrangement, which differs from that observed by Moseley, is a normal one. The young undergo nearly the whole of their development within the uterus. They possess at birth the full number of appendages, and differ from the parent only in size and colour.]
Notes on additional Glandular Bodies in the Legs
[Crural Glands].
1. They are present in all except the first.
2. They open externally to the nephridia (Pl. 51, fig. 20), except in the fourth and fifth pairs of legs, in which they are internal.
3. A muscular layer covers the whole gland, consisting, I believe, of an oblique circular layer.
4. The accessory gland in the male (fig. 43, ag) is probably a modification of one of these organs.
[The structure and relations of these glands may be best understood by reference to Pl. 51, fig. 20. Each consists of a dilated vesicular portion (fgl) placed in the lateral compartment of the body-cavity in the foot, and of a narrow duct leading to the exterior, and opening on the ventral surface amongst the papillæ of the second row (counting from the internal of the three foot pads—fig. 20, P).