CoGHiLL, Cranial Nerves of Triton. 261 



Another point of interest, also, attaches to this communicating 

 nerve between the buccalis and the palatine nerve in Triton, for 

 KiNGSLEY ('02 a, p. ^y^) describes a very similar connective be- 

 tween the maxillaris superior and the r. palatinus in Ichthyophis. 

 Although in this account, which is brief and only preliminary, 

 Professor Kingsley has given nothing to establish the composi- 

 tion of this anastomosis, he considers it homologous with the 

 anastomosis between the r. maxillaris superior and the r. pala- 

 tinus of the frog. Yet I can see no reason why this connective in 

 Ichthyophis may not be simply a lateral line nerve like that of 

 Triton. 



In his discussion of the taxonomic position of the crecilians Pro- 

 fessor Kingsley attaches "a considerable weight ... to 

 the relation existing between the palatine branch of the seventh 

 and the various branches of the fifth nerves." But the bearing 

 of the evidence to be drawn from this relation, it seems to me, 

 hangs largely upon the morphology of the trigeminal branches 

 themselves. It is my conviction that the nerves which are called 

 maxillaris superior in Anura and in Urodela are not equivalent 

 nerves in the two groups; but that the maxillaris of Urodela is the 

 equivalent of Strong's "r. accessorius" of the tadpole, while 

 the r. maxillaris superior of Anura is represented in the Urodela 

 by lateral divisions of the ophthalmicus profundus. My reasons 

 for this interpretation have been stated in my earlier papers 

 ('01; '02, p. 260-262), and my study of Triton, with the discovery 

 of the lateral line connective between the r. buccalis and the pala- 

 tine nerve, has confirmed my position on this point. The essen- 

 tial facts concerning the relation of these nerves among themselves 

 may be summarized as follows: The r. accessorius and r. maxil- 

 laris of Urodela are alike both in their distribution and in their 

 relation to the r. buccalis VII, and do not anastomose with the r. 

 palatinus VII; while the r. maxillaris of Anura and certain lateral 

 divisions of the r. ophthalmicus profundus of the Urodela are 

 alike in their distribution to the skin and in the anastomoses with 

 the r. palatinus VII. And, here, it should be emphasized that 

 the connective between the r. buccalis and palatine nerve in 

 Triton is not comparable to the maxillo-palatine anastomosis of 

 Anura for two reasons. In the first place, all the evidence goes 

 to prove that it is a lateral line nerve. In the second place, it 

 passes to the mesial side of the internal nares, so that, even if 



