xii Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



division of the pores would seem to represent a potential division of the 

 sense organs, which in forms in which the sense organs are freely situ- 

 ated, as in Amphibia, can be actual. 



" Attention is called to the necessity, imposed by the life habits 

 of certain urodeles, e. g., Diemyctylus, for the neuromasts to live over 

 a period of terrestrial existence, which is accomplished by the protec- 

 tion of the organs by a growth of epidermal cells. Doubtless this is 

 also true for many other forms of semi-aquatic habits of life, e. g., 

 Des7nognathus. In certain other urodela, e. g., Salamandra, and I be- 

 believe Plethodon (if they exist at any time), the system perishes entire- 

 ly in the adult. This is also the case apparently in all the Anura, 

 though in Ratia it persists until after both legs and arms are well devel- 

 oped and the tail has begun to be absorbed. There would seem, then, 

 to be something other than an aquatic existence necessary for the main- 

 tainance of the neuromasts, since Rana catesbiana is more purely a([uat- 

 ic than several of the Salamanders in which the system persists. Of 

 the mode of final disappearance nothing is known." 



c. J. H. 



Brains of Sauropsida.* 



The large number of carefully prepared descriptive papers now 

 issuing from the Cornell University laboratory of neurological research 

 is an occasion of congratulation not only to the directors of this labor- 

 atory but to morphologists in general. It is everywhere recognized 

 that the greatest obstacle now in the way of the best morphological 

 work is the lack of sufficiently full knowledge of the exact anatomical 

 structure of the types under investigation. 



Studies like the one now under consideration with their detailed 

 descriptions and full illustration should do much to check the prevalent 

 tendency to morphological speculation by supplying such a basis of 

 exact knowledge as will render possible the more satisfactory determi- 

 nation of morphological fact. 



Mrs. Gage has chosen for study the soft-shelled turtle and the 

 sparrow, not because they represent generalized types of Sauropsida, 

 but on the contrary because they represent extremes of specialization 

 of the two great divisions of this group. This is based on an apprecia- 

 tion of the importance of comparing through all stages of development 



^Gage, Susanna Phelps. Comparative Morphology of the Brain of the 

 Soft -Shelled Turtle (Amyda mutica) and the English Sparrow (Passer domes- 

 tica). Trans. Am. Microscopical Soc, XVII, 1896, 



