2. Coelomoducis.—In this category are included (by Goodrich and Lankester) the gonad ducts of the Oligochaeta, certain funnels without any aperture to the exterior that have been detected in Nereis, &c., funnels with wide and short ducts attached to nephridia in other Polychaeta, gonad ducts in the Capitellidae, the gonad ducts of the leeches. In all these cases we have a duct which has a usually wide, always intercellular, lumen, generally, if not always, ciliated, which opens directly into the coelom on the one hand and on to the exterior of the body on the other. These characters are plain in all the cases cited, excepting only the leeches which will be considered separately.

There is not a great deal of difference between most of these structures and true nephridia. It is not clear, for example, to which category it is necessary to refer the excretory organs of Arenicola, or Polynoe. Both series of organs consist essentially of a ciliated tube leading from the coelom to the exterior. Both series of organs grow back centrifugally from the funnel. In both the cavity originally or immediately continuous with the coelom appears first in the funnel and grows backwards. In some cases, e.g. oviducts of Oligochaeta, sperm ducts of Phreoryctes, the coelomoducts occupy, like the nephridia, two segments, the funnel opening into that in front of the segment which carries the external pore. It is by no means certain that a hard and fast line can be drawn between intra- and intercellular lumina. Finally, in function there are some points of likeness. The gonad ducts of Lumbricus, &c., must perform one function of nephridia; they must convey to the exterior some of the coelomic fluid with its disintegrated products of waste. There is no possibility that sperm and ova can escape by these tubes not in company with coelomic fluid. In the case of many Oligochaeta where there is no vascular network surrounding the nephridium, this function must be the chief one of those glands, the more elaborate process of excretion taking place in the case of nephridia surrounded by a rich plexus of blood capillaries. A consideration of the mode of development and appearance of the coelomoducts that have thus far been enumerated (with the possible exception of those of the leeches) seems to show that there is a distinct though varying relation between them and the nephridia. It has been shown that in Tubifex, and some other aquatic Oligochaeta, the genital segments are at first provided with nephridia, and that these disappear on the appearance of the generative ducts, which are coelomoducts. In Lumbricus the connexion is a little closer; the funnel of the nephridium, in the segments in which the funnels of the gonad ducts are to be developed, persists and is continuous with the gonad duct funnels on their first appearance. In the development of the Acanthodrilid earthworm Octochaetus (F.E. Beddard) the funnels of the pronephridia disappear except in the genital segments, where they seem to be actually converted into the genital funnels. At the least there is no doubt that the genital funnels are developed precisely where the nephridial funnels formerly existed. If the genital funnels are not wholly or partly formed out of the nephridial funnels they have replaced them. In the genital segments of Eudrilus the nephridia are present, but the funnels have not been found though they are obvious in other segments. Here also the genital funnels have either replaced or been formed out of nephridial funnels. In Haplotaxis heterogyne (W.B. Benham) the sperm ducts are hardly to be distinguished from nephridia; they are sinuous tubes with an intra-cellular duct. But the funnel is large and thus differs from the funnels of the nephridia in adjoining segments. Here again the nephridial funnel seems to have been converted into or certainly replaced by a secondarily developed funnel. This example is similar to cases among the Polychaeta where a true nephridium is provided with a large funnel, coelomostome, according to the nomenclature of Lankester. The whole organ, having, as is thought but not known, this double origin, is termed a nephromixium. The various facts, however, seem to be susceptible of another interpretation. It may be pointed out that the several examples described recall a phenomenon which is not uncommon and is well known to anatomists. That is the replacement of an organ by, sometimes coupled with its partial conversion into, a similar or slightly different organ performing the same or an analogous function. Thus the postcaval vein of the higher vertebrata is partly a new structure altogether, and is partly formed out of the pre-existing posterior cardinals. The more complete replacements, such as the nephridia of the genital segment of Tubifex by a subsequently formed genital duct, may be compared with the succession of the nesonephros to the pronephros in vertebrates, and of the metanephros to the mesonephros in the higher vertebrates. It might be well to term these structures, mostly serving as gonad ducts, which have an undoubted resemblance to nephridia, and for the most part an undoubted connexion with nephridia, “Nephrodinia,” to distinguish them from another category of “ducts” which are communications between the coelom and the exterior, and which have no relation whatever to nephridia or to the organs just discussed. For these latter, the term coelomoducts might well be reserved. To this category belong certain sacs and pouches in many, perhaps most, genera of the Oligochaeta family, Eudrilidae, and possibly the gonad ducts in the Hirudinea. As an example of the former it has been shown (Beddard) that a large median sac in Lybiodrilus is at first freely open to the coelom, that it later becomes shut off from the same, that it then acquires an external orifice, and, finally, that it encloses the ovary or ovaries, between which and the exterior a passage is thus effected. To this category will belong the oviducts in Teleostean fishes and probably the gonad ducts in several groups of invertebrates.

Polychaeta.—This group may be thus defined and the definition contrasted and compared with those of the other divisions of the Chaetopoda. Setae always present and often very large, much varied in form and very numerous, borne by the dorsal and ventral parapodia (when present). The prostomium and the segments generally often bear processes sensory and branchial. Eyes often present and comparatively complicated in structure. Clitellum not present as a definite organ, as in Oligochaeta. The anus is mostly terminal, and there are no anterior and posterior suckers. Nervous system often imbedded in the epidermis. Vascular system generally present forming a closed system of tubes. Alimentary canal rarely coiled, occasionally with glands which are simple caeca and sometimes serve as air reservoirs; jaws often present and an eversible pharynx. Nephridia sometimes of the type of those of the Oligochaeta; in other cases short, wide tubes with a large funnel serving also entirely or in part as gonad ducts. Frequently reduced in number of pairs; rarely (Capitellidae) more than one pair per segment. Gonads not so restricted in position as in Oligochaets, and often more abundant; the individuals usually unisexual. No specialized system of spermathecae, sperm reservoirs, and copulatory apparatus, as in Oligochaeta; development generally through a larval form; reproduction by budding also occurs. Marine (rarely fresh-water) in habit.

The Polychaeta contrast with the Oligochaeta by the great variety of outward form and by the frequency of specialization of different regions of the body. The head is always recognizable and much more conspicuous than in other Chaetopoda. As in the Oligochaeta the peristomial segment is often without setae, but this character is not by any means so constant as in the Oligochaeta. The prostomium bears often processes, both dorsal and ventral, which in the Sabellids are split into the circle of branchial plumes, which surround or nearly surround the mouth in those tube-dwelling Annelids. Tomopteris is remarkable for the fact that the hammer-shaped prostomium has paired ventral processes each with a single seta. It is held, however, that these are a pair of parapodia which have shifted forwards. The presence of parapodia distinguish this from other groups of Chaetopoda. Typically, the parapodium consists of two processes of the body on each side, each of which bears a bundle of setae; these two divisions of the “limb” are termed respectively notopodium and neuropodium. The notopodium may be rudimentary or absent and the entire parapodium reduced to the merest ridge or even completely unrepresented. Naturally, it is among the free living forms that the parapodium is best developed, and least developed among the tubicolous Polychaeta. To each division of the parapodium belongs typically a long tentacle, the cirrus, which may be defective upon one or other of the notopodium or neuropodium, and may be developed into an arborescent gill or into a flat scale-like process, the elytron (in Polynoe, &c.). There are other gills developed in addition to those which represent the cirri.

Fig. 3.—a, Bristle of PionosyllisMalmgreni; b, Hook of Terebella.

Setae.—The setae of the Polychaeta are disposed in two bundles in many genera, but in only one bundle in such forms as have no notopodium (e.g. Syllis). In some genera the setae are in vertical rows, and in certain Capitellidae these rows so nearly meet that an arrangement occurs reminiscent of the continuous circle of setae in the perichaetous Oligochaeta. The setae vary much in form and are often longer and stronger than in the Oligochaetes. Jointed setae and very short hooks or “uncini” (see fig. 3) are among the most remarkable forms. Simple bifid setae, such as those of Oligochaetes, are also present in certain forms.

Among the burrowing and tubicolous forms it is not uncommon for the body to be distinguishable into two or more regions; a “thorax,” for example, is sharply marked off from an “abdomen” in the Sabellids. In these forms the bundles of setae are either capilliform or uncinate, and the dorsal setae of the thorax are like the ventral setae of the abdomen. It is a remarkable and newly-ascertained fact that in regeneration (in Potamilla) the thorax is not replaced by the growth of uninjured thoracic segments; but that the anterior segments of the abdomen take on the same characters, the setae dropping out and being replaced in accordance with the plan of the setae in the thorax of uninjured worms. Among the Oligochaeta the sexually mature worm is distinguished from the immature worm by the clitellum and by the development of genital setae. Among the Polychaeta the sexual worm is often more marked from the asexual form, so much so that these latter have been placed in different species or even genera. The alteration in form does not only affect structures used in generation; but the form of the parapodia, &c., alter. There are even dimorphic forms among the Syllids where the sexes are, as in many Polychaets, separate.

Nephridia.—The nephridia of the Polychaeta have been generally dealt with above in considering the nephridial system of the Chaetopoda as a whole. They contrast with those of the Oligochaeta and Hirudinea by reason of their frequently close association with the gonads, the same organ sometimes serving the two functions of excretion and conveyance of the ova and spermatozoa out of the body. On the hypothesis that such a form as Dinophilus (see Haplodrili) has preserved the characters of the primitive Chaetopod more nearly than any existing Polychaet or Oligochaet, it is clear that the nephridia in the Oligochaeta have preserved the original features of those organs more nearly than most Polychaeta. Thus Nereis among the latter worms, from the resemblance which its excretory system bears to that of the Oligochaeta, may be made the starting-point of a series. In this worm the paired nephridia exist in most of the segments of the body, and their form (see fig. 2) is much like that of the nephridia in the Enchytraeidae. The funnel, which is not large, appears to open, as a rule at least, into the segment in front of that which bears the external orifice. Quite independent of these are certain large dorsally situate funnel-like folds of the coelomic epithelium, ciliated, but of which no duct has been discovered leading to the exterior. It is possible that we have here gonad ducts distinct from nephridia which at the time of sexual maturity do open on to the exterior.

In Polynoe the nephridia are short tubes with a slightly folded funnel whose lumen is intercellular, and this intercellular lumen is characteristic of the Polychaetes as contrasted with leeches and Oligochaetes. Among the Terebelloidea there is a remarkable differentiation of the nephridia into two series. One set lies in front of the diaphragm, which is the most anterior and complete septum, the rest having disappeared or being much less developed. The anterior nephridia, of which there are one to three pairs, contrast with the posterior series by their small funnels and large size, the posterior nephridia having a large funnel followed by a short tube. In Chaetozone setosa the anterior nephridia occupy five segments. There is usually a gap between the two series, several segments being without nephridia. It seems that the posterior nephridia are mainly gonad ducts, and the gonads are developed in close association with the funnels. The same arrangement is found in some other Polychaetes; for instance, in Sabellaria there is a single pair of large anterior nephridia, which open by a common pore, followed after an interval by large-funnelled and short nephridia. This differentiation is not, however, peculiar to the Polychaetes; for in several Oligochaetes the anterior nephridia are of large size, and opening as they do into the buccal cavity clearly play a different function to those which follow. In Thamnodrilus, as has been pointed out, there are two series of nephridia which resemble those of the Terebelloidea in the different sizes of their funnels. In Lanice conchilega the posterior series of nephridia are connected by a thick longitudinal duct, which seems to be seen in its most reduced form in Owenia, where a duct on each side runs in the epidermis, being in parts a groove, and receives one short tubular nephridium only and occupies only one segment. This connexion of successive nephridia (in Lanice) has its counterpart in Allolobophora, Lybiodrilus, and apparently in the Lumbriculids Teleuscolex and Styloscolex, among the Oligochaeta. Among the Capitellidae, which in several respects resemble the Oligochaeta, wide and short gonad ducts coexist in the same segments with nephridia, the latter being narrower and longer. It is noteworthy that in this family only among the Polychaeta, the nephridia are not restricted to a single pair in each segment; so that the older view that the gonad ducts are metamorphosed nephridia is not at variance with the anatomical facts which have been just stated.

Fig. 4.—Dasychone infracta, Kr. (After Malmgren.)