20 bulletin: museum of comparative zoology. 



C. MATERIAL AND METHODS. 



The adults of Anolis carolinensis were obtained from Jacksonville, 

 Florida, and later from Colmesneil, Texas. They were sent alive by 

 express, being received in good condition. After arriving they could 

 be kept alive for any length of time by feeding with living flies. With 

 such material constantly on hand, the use of the various special nerve 

 methods was practicable. The methods of staining found best 

 adapted to the purpose of the present study were Weigert's and Vom 

 Rath's. The projection drawings of the peripheral distribution of the 

 cranial nerves were made from a head prepared by the Vom Rath 

 method, which was found the best for this material. 



The animals were killed with chloroform; the head, with the 

 anterior part of the body as far back as the region of the fore legs, was 

 removed and, after some of the tissue on the right side had been cut 

 away so as to expose the brain and insure more rapid penetration, 

 was put into a Vom Rath's solution (formula for vertebrates). The 

 length of time necessary in this fluid depends upon the requirements 

 of decalcification, for the fluid serves the double purpose of decalcify- 

 ing the bone and impregnating the medullary sheaths of the nerve 

 'fibers. I found that a week to ten days served the purpose well.. 

 After the required length of time the specimen was brought through 

 the grades of alcohol and left in 80% alcohol long enough to remove 

 as much of the picric acid as would readily come out. The after 

 treatment with pjToligneous acid was not used. From 100% alcohol 

 it was cleared in cedar oil, then passed into xylol and, finally, embedded 

 in paraffin. For better embedding it was found ad\-antageous to use 

 the air pump, either while the object was in the melted paraffin or 

 before, while in the oil. It was alwa^'s found necessary to re-embed 

 several times during the cutting of a complete series, as there were 

 cavities not filled at first. This resulted at several places in the series 

 in 'partial sections which, however, were numbered in sequence with 

 the others. The series from which the large plots were made was cut 

 transversely 10 micra thick. In place of artificial orientation lines 

 the median plane was used for projection on the frontal plane, but for 

 projection on the sagittal plane there was no natural line a^■ailable 

 for the whole distance. The border of the upper lip served for this 

 purpose as far back as the corner of the mouth. From this point 

 caudad the orientation was determined from a comparison with a 

 drawing of the lateral external view of the same head, and also with 

 sagittal sections of heads of the same size. 



