283 
by StupniéKa. ’95, in Rhodeus by Srunnicka, ’95 and BEARD, ’96, 
in Acipenser by von Kuprrer, ’93; in Lepidosteus by BEARD, ’89; 
in Labrax by Brarp, ’96; in Raja and other Elasmobranchs 
by BEARD, ’92, ’96. 
Students of this larval or transient apparatus have stated, in near- 
ly all cases, that these giant ganglion cells, and their neurites atrophy 
before the fish reaches its adult form (BEARD, ’92, ’96, etc). Some 
also declare that the giant ganglion cells which are found in the adult 
fishes mentioned above are developed from a second series of giant 
cells which first appear after the transient cells have become developed 
or even atrophied. I have seen but few statements in exception to 
this. Brarp (92 b) states that he believes it probable that the giant 
ganglions cells of the adult Lophius piscatorius are identical with 
the transient cells in the embryo of the same species. ROHON (’85) 
was doubtful as to whether the larval cells might persist into the 
adult of Salmo. 
I have observed, as far as I have been able to examine, that in 
an entire order of Teleostomes, the Heterosomata, or flat fishes, 
the larval apparatus is present in the young fish and becomes de- 
veloped into an important and permanent apparatus in the adult. 
The exact function of this apparatus, the final distribution of 
its neurites to their end organs and the homology of the giant cells 
of the larval flat-fishes, with the transient or larval giant cells of 
Acipenser, Salmo, Perca, Raja, etc., are the questions upon 
which I am working at present. The comparison of this giant cell 
apparatus of the flat fishes with the giant cells found in the adults of 
other fishes is one of great difficulty because of the variations of structure 
and position that this apparatus assumes in these other forms. I be- 
lieve it to be homologous with that found in Lophius and possibly 
with that of Amphioxus and of the Cyclostomes. In the other 
cases my lack of data prevents any judgment of the matter. 
The descriptions of the apparatus as found in the adults of Para- 
lichthys dentatus, JORDAN and GILBERT, Paralichthys ob- 
longus, JORDAN and GILBERT, Bothus maculatus, JORDAN and 
GILBERT, Pleuronectes americanus, WALBAUM, Achirus li- 
neatus L., and the surface-swimming larvae of Pleuronectes 
americanus and of an unknown dextral flat-fish (probably of 
Bothus maculatus) will be followed by the conclusions I have 
arrived at and the hypotheses I have laid out concerning its functions 
and its homologies. 
19,2 
