162 



We are unable to agree with some of the remarks of 

 Stannius on the sympathetic of the Plaice. He states that 

 the first cranial ganglion is that connected with the facial 

 nerve, that there is no ganglion corresponding to the 

 glossopharyngeus, and that the rami communicantes for 

 the first 8 or 4 spinal nerves arise from a common ganglion 

 also giving origin to the NN. splanchnic!. We have not 

 examined the sympathetic posteriorly, but Stannius states 

 that there are very large sympathetic nerves connected by 

 a commissure perforating the kidney to reach the repro- 

 ductive organs. They also pass backwards with the ovary 

 or testis into the cavity between the skeleton and the skin 

 formerly su])posed to be Ihe posterior extension of the 

 body cavity. 



The sympathetic nervous system of Fishes has 

 recently been investigated in some detail by Jaquet* and 

 C. K. Hoffmannt — the former studying its anatomy and 

 the latter its development. -Taquet divides it into cephalic, 

 abdominal and caudal portions. The first is stated to be 

 connected with the ganglia of five cranial nerves — the 

 " hypoglossal " [first spinal], vagus, glossopharyngeus, 

 facialis and trigeminus, and fibres from the second and 

 third ganglia are said to accompany the glossopharyngeal 

 to the pseudobranch. Jaquet's work contains a formal 

 scheme of the Teleostean sympathetic (fig. 4), and also 

 many statements which are not borne out by our examina- 

 tion of the Plaice, and which seem to us to require con- 

 firmation. The most important work on the anatomy of 

 the sympathetic in bony fishes is that of Chevrel,+ who 

 investigated the relation of the ganglia to those of the 

 cranial nerves, and who asserts that the first sympathetic 



* Bull. Soc. Sci. Bucarest-Eoumanie, Ann. x., 1901. 



t Verhand. K. Akad. Wetens. Amsterdam, Sect, ii., Dl. vii., 1900. 



I Arch. Zool. Exper., Ser. ii., T. v. bis. 



