462 ALETS. [Vou. XIV. 
superior maxillary bone, exactly in the position of the posterior 
palatine canal of man. 
Near the articular end of the maxillary the posterior pala- 
tine nerve of Amia forms an anastomosis with the maxillary 
branch of the maxillaris superior trigemini. A similar anasto- 
mosis in cyprinoids is considered by Sagemehl (No. 37, p. 558) 
as unquestionably the representative in fishes of the spheno- 
palatine ganglion of higher animals. This ganglion in man 
(No. 32, Vol. II, Pt. II, p. 24) lies in the spheno-maxillary fossa, 
between the sphenoid bone posteriorly, the superior maxillary 
bone anteriorly, and the vertical plate of the palate bone 
internally. From it both the naso-palatine and large palatine 
nerves arise. The anastomosis between the posterior palatine 
and superior maxillary nerves of Amia must, therefore, be 
pushed backward by the shortening of the snout to a position 
slightly in front of the cartilaginous, anterior clinoid wall of the 
fish, — a position which would correspond closely, in its relation 
to the neighboring bones, to the spheno-maxillary fossa of man. 
As there are no ganglionic cells at the anastomosis of the two 
nerves in Amia, those cells must migrate into it from some- 
where, possibly, as I was led to suggest in my earlier work 
(No. 2), though it seems to me now not probably, from the mass 
of cells, apparently sympathetic, found on nerve “‘n”’ of Pinkus. 
That part of the superior maxillary nerve of Amia that lies 
distal to its anastomosis with the palatinus facialis, and runs 
forward and inward dorsal to the horizontal part of the maxillary 
bone, would correspond approximately, in position, to the in- 
'ferior nasal branch of the large palatine nerve of man. The 
naso-palatine anastomosis with the great palatine nerve would 
have its approximate counterpart in Amia, the canals traversed 
by the anterior ends of the anterior palatine nerves of the fish 
being the foramina of Scarpa. 
The maxillary branch of the superior maxillary nerve of 
Amia, issuing between the inferior margin of the lachrymal, or 
first suborbital bones, and the superior margin of the maxillary, 
would naturally give origin to the infraorbital canal of man. 
PALAIS CARNOLES, MENTON, May 1, 1897. 
