THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 133 



cranial nerves of the larval Salamander based on the study of serial 

 sections, and produced elaborate figures reconstructed from these 

 sections. While these authors rectify Fischer's defective account of 

 the N. oculomotorius they have nevertheless failed to identify the 

 lateralis system which exists in the larval Salamander. The anterior 

 ganglion of this system lies just dorsal to the Gasserian ganglion. 

 They therefore regard it as an accessory trigeminal ganglion and 

 describe the nerves emerging from it as trigeminal nerves. This has 

 naturally led to considerable confusion of nomenclature and descrip- 

 tion, and a similar confusion exists between the lateralis nerve and 

 its course in the vago-glossopharyngeal ganglionic complex. 



These authors also describe and figure an anastomosis between 

 the R. palatinus VII and their R. supramaxillaris superior of the Vth 

 nerve, which does not exist, while they fail to mention the one which 

 does occur between the palatine branch of the Vllth and the ventral 

 branch of R. ophthalmicus profundus V. 



The confusion with regard to the lateralis system was cleared up 

 by Strong in 1895, but this author is himself in error when he sug- 

 gests that the anastomosis between the Vth and Vllth nerves should 

 be between R. palatinus VII and R. maxillaris V. He says: Tn 

 Wiedersheim's Grundriss this connexion is in one place, by some 

 error, spoken of as between R. palatinus and R. ophthalmicus pro- 

 fundus.' Actually Wiedersheim is quite right, the difference between 

 the topographical relations of this anastomosis constituting an impor- 

 tant distinction between the Urodela and Anura. In 1 896 Kingsley 

 re-examined the question of this anastomosis by means of sections, 

 and shows the true communication to be between the palatine and 

 the ophthalmicus profundus, and suggests further that von Plessen 

 and Rabinowicz mistook the M. obliquus inferior for an anasto- 

 mosis between a branch of the palatine and their R. supramaxillaris 

 superior V. 



In 1 90 1 Driiner gave an excellent account, illustrated by a number 

 of fine figures, of the visceral nerves (VII, IX, and X), and of the 

 muscles they supply. His work is very accurate. 



A year later Hoffmann published a general account of the cranial 

 nerves of Salamandra and Triton, both larval and adult. His work 

 in respect of the visceral nerves is not so detailed as that of Driiner. 

 While on the whole Hoffmann's account is accurate, his text is not 

 very easy to follow, probably on account of the absence of any dia- 

 grams or figures other than those of microscopic sections. Frequent 

 reference to both these papers will be made in the ensuing pages. At 

 about the same time several American anatomists began to investigate 



