DISTRIBUTION OF LYMPHATICS IN SCORP/ENICIITHYS 59 



verse lymphatic vessels and anastomose dorsally with the ab- 

 dominal sinus. In the region of the ventral fin, and not improb- 

 ably in other places, interlinking vessels were found between 

 the profundus and superficial ventral trunks. 



Myelonal or superior longitudinal spinal lymphatic trunk 

 (Figs. 4 and 5, My.L. V.). — This trunk with its neural or inter- 

 spinal branches has been described by Hyrtl (7) and Stannius 

 (24) as ending in the caudal sinus, but nothing whatever is said 

 about its anterior connections. Trois states that this trunk in 

 Lophius, Uranoscopus, and the Pleuronectidae (28 to 31) runs 

 along in the spinal canal, receives numerous interspinal branches, 

 and is connected with the haemal longitudinal trunks by means 

 of transverse vessels. With Rhombus maximus and R. Icevis (30, 

 p. 43) an additional longitudinal trunk was described as travel- 

 ing along at the level of the bases of the interspinal bones. So 

 far as could be discovered, Sappey (25) is the only one to give 

 a cephalic ending for this canal. He states that it is a very 

 important trunk with the pike and flatfish, and with these 2 

 fishes it is represented as extending from the coccyx of the 

 last vertebra to the first cervical vertebra — where it turns to 

 empty into the jugular. He further adds that there appears to 

 be no caudal connection with the papilla of the lateral canal. 

 No such trunk was portrayed by Vogt in the salmon or by Hop- 

 kins in Amia. 



In Scorpamichthys the myelonal or super for longitudinal spinal 

 lymphatic trunk (Figs. 4 and 5, My.L. V.) agrees very well 

 with the descriptions given it by Trois and Sappey in Lophius, 

 Uranoscopus, Esox, and the Pleuronectidee, except that its 

 cephalic termination is very different from what Sappey repre- 

 sents it for the pike and the flatfish. This trunk seems to be of 

 different relative importance in different groups. With Scor- 

 pcenichthys it is the longest and undoubtedly the most important 

 of the longitudinal canals. It is located in the spinal canal 

 directly above the myelon or cord, from which it is separated 

 by a rather tough connective tissue septum. The neural ox inter- 

 spinal lymphatic vessels (Fig. 4, Neu.L. V.), which have been 

 described so accurately by Trois and Sappey, are very important 

 branches of the myelonal trunk in Scorpcenichthys. Their 



