Morphological Studies. 



Nr. 3. The Nature of the Teeth of the Marsipoh ranch 



Fishes ^), 



By 

 J. Beard, Ph. D., B. Sc, 



Zoologist to the Scottish Fishery Board, University of Edinburgh. 



(Aus dem Anatomischen Institut zu Freiburg i./Br.). 



With Plates XXXIV— XXXV. 



Introduction. 



Wherever one turns for information as to the nature of the teeth 

 of the Marsipobranch fishes the only answer met with is that they 

 possess horny teeth. And, as the morphologist attaches no particu- 

 lar importance to the possession of horny teeth, — for horn is a 

 structure which can be developed in very various situations on the 

 body surface, — one finds that no one has thought it worth while to 

 investigate the Marsipobranch teeth more closely. 



WiEDERSHEiM, iu the kst edition of his „Lehrbuch" — a book 

 which represents the latest phases in our knowledge of Vertebrate 

 anatomy — writes on p. 483: „Ich werde ganz, absehen von den 

 Hornzähnen, beziehungsweise Hör n sehe id en, wie wir sie schon 

 anlässlich der Betrachtung des Kopfskeletes bei Cyclostomen, Amphi- 

 bien, Schildkröten, Vögeln und Schnabelthieren kennen gelernt haben. 

 Alle diese Bildungen sind — darauf weisen jene Fälle hin , wo sich, 



1) Being a small appendix to Prof. Huxley's memoir „On the na- 

 ture of the craniofacial apparatus of the Marsipobranch Pishes". 



