20 W II. LI AM F. ALLEN 



caudalis or the caudal lymphatic trunk. Opposite the last ver- 

 tebra the lateral trunks bend mesad, anastomose, and at the point 

 of union they receive the longitudinal hsemal lymphatic trunk, and 

 the combined trunk passes caudad to enter the atrium. The atri- 

 um also receives the caudal trunk and communicates mesad with 

 the ventricle, which empties into the sinus venosus caudalis of the 

 caudal vein. In Coricus rostratus, Favaro finds (pp. 208-9, and 

 fie;. 121) the termination of the lateral trunks more like Scorpsen- 

 ichthys than in either of the above species. The lateral trunk is 

 prolonged to the caudal fin, but does not anastomose with the 

 sinus lymphaticus caudalis (posterior caudal sinus of Scorpsenich, 

 thys). As in Scorpsenichthys each lateral trunk bends inward, 

 receives a fork of the longitudinal neural trunk; but then, con- 

 trary to Scorpa^nichthys, after anastomosing in the median line 

 with its fellow the caudal trunk is received from the rear and the 

 combined ti'unk discharges its contents into the sinus venosus 

 caudalis of the caudal vein. 



Dorsal subcutaneous lym/phaiic trunk. (Figs. 1, 4 and 12, D.T.) 

 — In Scorpa^nichthys the dorsal lymphatic trunk proper, not 

 taking into consideration its posterior continuation, which will 

 be described later as the dorsal caudal fin Ijanphatic trunk, is a 

 very inconspicuous vessel compared to what it is in the cephalic 

 region or to what it is in the caudal region of other fishes. The 

 territory usually drained by this trunk is collected by other can- 

 als in Scorpsenichthys, namely the neural lymphatic vessels. In 

 no dissection was it possible to trace a continuous dorsal trunk 

 from the head to the tail. In an earlier paper (pp. 54-5) a des- 

 cription of the anterior portion of this trunk and its cephalic 

 ending was given. About all that can be said for a certainty con- 

 cerning the posterior portion of the dorsal lymphatic trunk in 

 Scorpa;nichthys and Clinocottus is that it takes its origin on either 

 side of the posterior end of the second dorsal fin. At the extrem- 

 ity of the fin the forks fuse to form a single trunk, which continues 

 caudad for a short distance along the dorso-median line of the 

 caudal peduncle directly below the skin in a tough connective 

 tissue sheath that binds the two great lateral muscles together. 

 When a short distance from the base of the caudal fin it anasto- 



