XXVili Jounnat or Comparative NeuRoLocy. 
The Lateral Neasory Syvtem of the Eels.' 
in this paper of 48 pages and three good"plates we have a detailed 
description of the lateral line canals and associated sense organs in the 
conger ee] and a more brief account of three related species of Mu- 
raenidae, viz., Ophicthys serpehs, Myrus vulgaris and Muraena helena. 
The nerves supplying these sense organs have been traced only in their 
peripheral portions and we are promised a later research upe the i in- 
nervation of these structures in the conger. 
In connection with the innervation of the pit organs shete is is one 
correction of minor importance on page 42 of the reprint, to which at- 
tention might be drawn. Mr. ALLis describes a pit line running paral- 
lel with the squamosal lateral canal which is innervated by a nerve 
formed from an anastomosis between a branch of the facial, which is re- 
garded as a portion of the ramus opercularis facialis, and a branch of 
the glossopharyngeus or vagus. In discussing the morphology of these 
pit organs the author says, ‘‘If they be pit organs, it is practicully cer- 
tain that they cannot be innervated by the facialis, for there is no sin- 
gle instance that I know of, of lateral sensory fibers accompanying the 
ramus opercularis of that nerve.” As amatter of fact I have described 
just such a condition in Menidia (this Journal, vol. 1X, p. 294, seqq.), 
BauDELoT’s descriptions strongly suggest the same thing, and I have 
no doubt that a careful search of the literature would reveal other such 
cases. Confusion arises in this connection (and this is the occasion of 
this note) from the fact that there are two opercular rami in teleosts 
which are not always distinguished. ‘The ramus opercularis profundus 
VII is a purely motor nerve, and this is the only one of these branches 
which is mentioned by Srannius. On the other hand, the ramus 
opercularis superficialis VII is a mixed nerve, containing in Menidia 
both general cutaneous and lateralis fibers and in other cases appa- 
rently it may contain communis fibers also or be fused with the motor 
fibers belonging to the ramus hyoideus VII. This superficial nerve 
frequently anasomoses with the vagus or glossopharyngeus and in 
Menidia at any rate it is clear that the vagal ae are all of general 
cutaneous nature. C.J. Be 
1 Auuis, E, P. The Lateral Sensory System inthe Muraenidae. J#éern. 
Monatsschrift f. Anat. u. Phystol., XX, 4-6, 1903. 
