Herrick, Gustatory Paths in Fishes. 381 



both the peripheral and the central gustatory paths in all verte- 

 brate types and that fishes like the carp with enormous hyper- 

 trophy of the gustatory roots of the VII, IX and X nerves may 

 safely be used as guides to point the way for further researches 

 upon the gustatory paths of higher vertebrates where the sys- 

 tem is less easily analyzed. Such being the case, our problem 

 assumes a measure of importance when we remember that the 

 central gustatory pathway is at present almost totally unknown 

 in all vertebrates, including man, and that even the peripheral 

 pathway is still in dispute among students of human anatomy. 



It has been already pointed out (Judson Herrick, '04) 

 that the siluroids (cat fishes and horned pouts) and the larger 

 cyprinoids (carps, suckers, etc.) present a striking similarity to 

 each other and contrast to other teleosts in both the peripheral 

 and the central nervous systems, and that these features center 

 about the gustatory pathways. In teleosts generally the gusta- 

 tory pathway from the lining of the mouth in the branchial re- 

 gion, entering the brain by the communis roots of the IX and 

 X nerves, and the gustatory pathway from the anterior part of 

 the mouth and from the outer skin, entering by the communis 

 VII root, terminate together in a single cerebral enlargement, 

 the lobus vagi. But in these two groups of fishes we have a 

 second tuberosity, as mentioned above, developed for the com- 

 munis root of the facialis to provide for the unusually large 

 number of taste buds in the outer skin supplied by this nerve. 



In the cyprinoids, particularly the carp-like forms, both oi 

 these lobes are enlarged, correlated with a high development of 

 the taste buds in each of the corresponding peripheral regions, 

 but particularly in the vagal region to supply the remarkable 

 collection of taste buds on the palatal organ. In the siluroids, 

 on the other hand, there is no hypertrophy of the gustatory or- 

 gans in the branchial region and the vagal lobes, accordingly, 

 are essentially similar to those of other teleosts. But the highly 

 developed cutaneous gustatory organs innervated by the facialis 

 have called forth an enlargement of the facial lobe greater than 

 that of cyprinoids. Since in the siluroids all of the taste buds 

 of the outer skin are supplied by the communis root of the 



