2O INEZ L. WHIPPLE. 



then forced open and the region about the posterior nares ex- 

 amined to see if by any chance the ink had entered the naris. 

 No trace of it was found, however, anywhere in the mouth 

 cavity. This portion of the experiment shows, what of course 

 the experiment with water had failed to show conclusively, that 

 t/ie groove is tJic sole cliannel lliroitgli which tJie fluid escapes from 

 tJie naris. The groove, moreover, retained a tiny line of the ink 

 after the naris was free from it, and the ink remained there until 

 a subsequent application of water to the naris resulted in the 

 removal of the ink as the water took its place in the groove. 



Experiment 2. The head of the specimen used in this ex- 

 periment was wet by allowing water to flow over it from a 

 pipette. When the nares were opened and normal aerial res- 

 piration was established, the attempt was made to place a small 

 drop of ink in the nasal depression. This proved difficult because 

 the film of water which covered the surrounding area attracted 

 the drop and the ink would flow off over the surface of the skin 

 instead of entering the nasal depression. When finally a drop 

 was successfully placed upon the naris, there was an immediate 

 appearance of a line of ink filling the groove and escaping from 

 its lower end. After a moment the naris opened as before, wholly 

 free from the fluid. This experiment not only corroborates the 

 conclusions drawn from the first experiment as to the function of 

 the groove, but shows that under the usual moist condition of the 

 skin there is a tendency for a small drop of water fa/ling upon the 

 snout not to flood tJie nasal depression at all but to mingle u'it/i the 

 general moisture covering the skin and to flow off over the surface. 

 This tendency is referable to that condition of the edge of the 

 naris which causes the water to recede slightly from the orifice 

 while it freely wets the neighboring skin and remains as a thin 

 film upon its surface. 



Experiment j. The head of the specimen was dried and a 

 drop of ink was applied to the edge of the lip at the labial end 

 of the groove. The groove at once filled with ink which ex- 

 tended /// toward the naris. Upon reaching it, however, it pro- 

 duced no interference with respiration for it merely filled the 

 wrinkles in the external surface of the crescentic fold which was 

 drawn back to the outer edge of the orifice. The experiment 



