Page:The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881).djvu/58

 earth-worm debouch into the alimentary canal in advance of the gizzard, but posteriorly to it in Urochtæa and some other genera. The two posterior pairs are formed by lamellæ, which according to Claparède, are diverticula from the œsophagus. These lamellœ are coated with a pulpy cellular layer, with the outer cells lying free in infinite numbers. If one of these glands is punctured and squeezed, a quantity of white pulpy matter exudes, consisting of these free cells. They are minute, and vary in diameter from 2 to 6 µ. They contain in their centres a little excessively fine granular matter; but they look so like oil globules that Claparède and others at first treated them with ether. This produces no effect; but they are quickly dissolved with effervescence in acetic acid, and when oxalate of ammonia is added to the solution a white precipitate is thrown down. We may therefore conclude that they contain carbonate of lime. If the cells