xh Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



important a division of a branchial nerve as the pre-branchial would be 

 represented in the higher forms. 



Such are some of the principal results of this sound research upon 

 an important form. It is to be hoped that its author will extend his 

 researches, as he intimates, to a study of the microscopic structure of 

 the nervous system of Chimtera. o. s. s. 



The Trigemino-facial Complex of Fishes.^ 



This is one of several papers that have appeared during the past 

 year, aiming at the complete homologization of the cranial nerve roots 

 among the Ichthyopsida (and with higher forms). The primary pur- 

 pose of the author was a comparison of the cranial nerve components 

 of Teleosts as determined by Mayser (1881) with those recognized by 

 himself in the Ganoid Acipenser in 1888. 



The facts of homologization are essentially those determined inde- 

 pendently by the other workers in this field (Strong, Herrick, Kings- 

 bury) ; the interpretations, however, differ in many important pomts 

 from those of the others, due apparently to a lack of comparison with 

 other (higher) forms and a sufficient appreciation of the functional dis- 

 tribution of the components. As representmg the teleosts were chosen 

 Esox and especially Lota. 



By a reexamination of the cranial nerve roots of Acipenser and the 

 encephalic centers connected therewith, our author substantiates his 

 former statements and conclusions, to the effect that there are (at least) 

 five pairs of segmental nerves connected with the oblongata, each hav- 

 ing a ventral motor root (or roots) and dorsal sensory roots, i. e. (i) 

 the Vagus, (2) Glossopharyngeus, (3) Facial, (4) Second Trigeminal, 

 and (5) First Trigeminal. This view leads him to reject the "lateral 

 motor root " theory as not consistent with the observed facts. Among 

 the most important additions to his former observations on the internal 

 connections of the cranial nerves discussed, is the recognition that his 

 system y is largely the ascending root of the Vth cranial nerve (Trigem- 

 inus). He also finds that the motor root of each nerve receives a 

 portion of its fibers from the Posterior Longitudinal Fasciculus. 



In the comparison of the oblongata of Acipenser with the oblon- 

 gata of Lota and the Cyprinidae, which constitutes the second portion 

 of the paper, most important is perhaps the recognition that the so- 

 called geniculate root of the Trigeminus in Teleosts is the homologue 



' GoRONOWiTSCH, Dr. N. Der Trigemino-Facialis-Komplex von Lota vul- 

 garis. Festschr. Gegendaur, Vol. Ill, pp. 1-44, PI. I and II. Leipzig, 1897. 



