IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 133 



and comes into intimate relation with a branch of the r. alveolaris VII, 

 although no actual anatomosing was demonstrated. An anastomosis be- 

 tween these two branches occurs in Amblystoma (Coghill, 1. c), Am- 

 phiuraa (Norris, 1908), Plethodon (Norris, 1909), and Spelerpes, al- 

 though jNIiss Bowers failed to find it in the latter. The r. oph. prof, 

 after gi"\dng off a dorsal branch at the median border of the posterior 

 part of the eyeball divides into the three terminal branches that seem 

 characteristic of the Urodela. The ophthalmic-palatine anastomosis 

 appears* to resemble that described by Coghill (1906) in Triton, but its 

 exact nature could not be determined in the material available for 

 stud}'. In the dorsal branch of the r. oph. prof, referred to above the 

 trochlear nerve seems to pass to its innervation of the superior oblique 

 muscle, but where it enters the ophthalmic branch was not determined. 

 This relation seems to be almost identical with that in Spelerpes. The 

 infra-orbital trunk formed by the union of the r. maxillaris V and 

 the r. buccalis VII is similar to the corresponding trunk in Amblystoma 

 and Spelerpes. General cutaneous fibers entering the r. oph. spf. VII 

 have been reported in Amphiuma (Norris, 1908), Siren (Norris, 1910, 

 1911). In young adults of Plethodon glutinosus shortly after the meta- 

 morphosis and loss of the lateral line system a small general cutaneous 

 nerve can be found passing antero-dorsally out of the gasserian gang- 

 lion along a course that must have been occupied by the r. oph. spf. 

 VII of the larval stage (Norris, 1909). Coghill does not report such 

 fibers in Amblystoma nor does Miss Bowers distinguish them in Spe- 

 lerpes. 



The facial nerve shows the six characteristic rami: (1) ramus oph- 

 thalmicus superficialis, (2) ramus buccalis, (3) ramus mentalis, (4) 

 ramus alveolaris, (5) ramus palatinus, and (6) ramus jugularis. The 

 first three have the characteristic distribution to the neuromasts of the 

 head. The ventral lateral line ganglion is almost wholly outside the 

 skull and sharply distinguishable from both the auditory ganglion, and 

 the gasserian ganglion. The ramus communicans from the IX-X nerves 

 contains l)oth general cutaneous and communis components. It sends 

 its general cutaneous fibers into the r. jugularis and its communis fibers 

 into the r. alveolaris, resembling in this respect the ramus communi- 

 cans in Amblystoma and Spelerpes. Miss Bowers, however, recognized 

 only general cutaneous fibers in the r. communicans. As noted by 

 previous writers the r. jugularis paerses dorsal to the squamoso-columel- 

 lar ligament. A truncus hyomandibularis can hardly be said to exist 

 in Necturus as the motor components of the facial nerve take their 

 departure at the exit of the main nerve from the skull. As to the ex- 



