45 o Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology. 



doubtless with other important connections as yet imperfectly 

 known. 



While these pages are passing through the press the excellent paper by 

 Goldstein (Untersuchungen iiber das Vorderhirn und Zwischenhirn einiger 

 Knochenfische, nebst einigen Beitragen iiber Mittlehirn und Kleinhirn derselben. 

 Arch. f. ?nikr. Anat., LXVI, 2, 1905, pp. 135-220), on the brains of teleosts 

 has come to hand. While Goldstein's detailed examination did not extend 

 back into the region of the gustatory centers, yet I am pleased to note that he 

 found and figured the tertiary path to the inferior lobes, though naturally with- 

 out being able to give its functional interpretation. It has been assumed by 

 some authors that the ganglion isthmi of Edinger is the same as the "Rinden- 

 knoten" of Mayser (my nucleus gustus secundus superior). Goldstein, how- 

 ever, terms the latter "nucleus lateralis cerebelli" and the cells which he desig- 

 nates as ganglion isthmi are clearly shown by his figures to be the cortical layer 

 of tertiary gustatory neurones surroung the "Rindenknoten" as I have describ- 

 ed them in the preceding pages. Goldstein's tractus isthmo-hypothalamicus, 

 then, is my tertiary gustatory path to the inferior lobe. It is apparently another 

 portion of this tertiary gustatory path which he shows in text-figure 21 (p. 206) 

 entering the tr. cerebello-thalami from the dorsal part of the nucleus lateralis cer- 

 ebelli. 



There remain to be considered the morphological relations 

 of the gustatory system as a whole to the other functional sys- 

 tems of the brain. The intimate association of gustatory fibers 

 with those of general visceral sensation, both in the peripheral 

 and the central nervous system, strongly suggests that the gus- 

 tatory system has been specialized from this primitive source ; 

 but it must be admitted that the evidence thus far produced, 

 while very suggestive, can hardly be called • demonstra- 

 tive. A comparison of the gustatory system with the "viscer- 

 al sensory system" cannot be expected to yield very impor- 

 tant results so long as the latter system remains so imperfectly 

 understood. There is a strong demand for an analysis of the 

 visceral nerves and for a clear understanding of the relations 

 (both anatomical and physiological) of their various kinds with 

 certain systems commonly classified with the somatic sensory 

 group, such as the nerves of muscle and joint, thermal and 

 pain (?) sensations. 



Whatever the phylogenetic origin of the gustatory system, 

 it is clear that it is confined to the cranial nerves and that in 

 the lowliest vertebrates it is represented in at least three of 

 these nerves. The primary terminal center does not corres- 



