591.14 3i8 



591.44 



597. 



IV. 



The Suprarenal Bodies of Fishes. 



DURING the past ten or twelve years a voluminous literature 

 has appeared dealing with the structure and physiology of the 

 suprarenal bodies of mammals ; but it is only within the last few 

 years that the attention of zoologists and physiologists has been 

 directed to these structures in the lower vertebrates. The results of 

 these investigations having proved of more than usual interest, a brief 

 summary of the same may perhaps be useful. 



The suprarenal bodies of mammals are situated one on each side 

 of the body in close proximity to the kidney. Each consists of a 

 'medulla' or central portion and a 'cortex' or external portion, and is 

 supposed to be a double internal secreting gland whose presence and 

 functional activity is essential to life ; for so far as is known at 

 present from the researches of Abelous and Langlois, Tizzoni, Brown- 

 Sequard, Cybulski, Schafer and others, all animals die when these 

 bodies are extirpated. In this connection, it is curious to note that 

 suprarenal bodies have not been described in any but vertebrate 

 animals. 



I do not purpose entering in any detail into the question of the 

 physiology of these bodies, a brief and useful summary having 

 recently been given by Vincent (23). 



Commencing with the Cyclostomata, the earliest reference to the 

 subject is that by Rathke in 1827 (16) and again in 1828 (17). In 

 1834 Johannes Miiller described a clustered gland in Myxine, which, 

 however, seems to have been the pronephric portion of the kidney. 

 In a recent paper (written in conjunction with Mr. Vincent) (4) I 

 have reviewed in some detail the literature relating to these bodies in 

 the cyclostomes, and have shown that as yet there is no satisfactory 

 evidence of any suprarenal bodies in this group. Since the publica- 

 tion of the above paper, Pettit (15) has stated that he has found 

 glandular structures which he thinks may be regarded as suprarenal 

 bodies, but further evidence is yet wanting. 



The earliest account respecting these bodies in Fishes is that 

 given in 1819 by Retzius (18), who described them in certain species 

 of dog-fish and skate. Stannius in 1839 (20) discovered similar 

 bodies in teleostean fishes, and in 1846 (21) he gave a general 

 account of them in elasmobranchs, teleosts, and the sturgeon. In 

 the same year Ecker (7) verified Stannius' observations and gave a 



