A ventral vessel occurs on the anterior side of the metasome and forms a loop extending down the entire length of the stalk, while a " heart " projects into the cavity of the pericardium, probably connected on the ventral side of the notochord with the ventral vessel, and on its dorsal side with the dorsal vessel.
Among the Oligochaeta the dorsal vessel in Dinodrilus and Megascolides is enclosed in a separate coelomic chamber which may or may not communicate with the main coelomic cavity.
The principal trunks consist of a dorsal vessel lying above the gut, and a ventral vessel below the gut but above the nervous cord.
The dorsal vessel also communicates with the ventral vessel indirectly by the intestinal sinus, which gives off branches to both the longitudinal trunks, and by tegementary vessels and capillaries which supply the skin and the nephridia.
On the other hand, additional longitudinal trunks are sometimes developed, the chief one of which is a supra-intestinal vessel lying below the dorsal vessel and closely adherent to the walls of the oesophagus in which region it appears.
