199_ 



but do I understand her to be ignorant of the fact that both Allis 

 himself and Kingsbury have corrected that statement, and shown that 

 the branch supposed to come from the IX th really comes from the 

 lateralis V 



2) A lateral line branch of the IXth has been described by some 

 of the older writers in Acipenser, but the careful and admirable 

 work of Johnston has dispelled that illusion too, and it is now certain 

 that the IXth nerve of Acipenser has no such distribution. 



3) Amongst Elasmobranchs a similar branch has been described 

 in Acanthias, but here again Dr. Strong has shown that as the 

 lateralis emerges from the medulla it gives off intracranially a bundle 

 of fibres which accompanies the IXth, and is given off apparently as 

 a branch of the IXth outside the auditory capsule — being distributed 

 to a canal organ of the lateral line. 



4) In the specialised Teleost Menidia C. L. Herrick remarks 

 that the canal organs in many Fishes apparently innervated by the 

 IXth are supplied in his type by a recurrent twig from the lateral 

 line ganglion. 



5) In Holocephali the IXth takes no part in the innervation of 

 the lateral line system, and has never been described as doing so. 



I venture to think therefore that my appearance in the role of a 

 prophet has not altogether been unattended with success, and that 

 Miss Alcock's surprise is hence somewhat superfluous. 



On p. 150 Miss Alcock remarks: 



"The conclusion I am led to, therefore, from the study of A m m o - 

 co et es, is in direct opposition to the tendency expressed by Cole, 

 which is to disassociate the lateral line nerves into a separate system 

 from the branchial nerves. I do not mean to express any doubt as 

 to their separate internal destination in the brain ; but as far as their 

 peripheral distribution is concerned they form an essential component 

 of each of the branchial nerves, — that is to say, of the facial, of 

 the glossopharyngeal , and of each of the six branchial divisions of 

 the vagus." 



1 shall be interested to learn what justification Miss Alcock has 

 for this statement. I find none in her own paper. The conclusions 

 held to a large extent in common by Dr. Strong and myself have 

 been arrived at after some years of study and the consideration of a 

 large number of types. I quite agree with the remark made recently 

 by Dr. Strong in a review of my Chimaera memoir (Journ. Comp. 

 Neurol., 1898) that a complete case from our point of view has not 

 yet been made out. What we do say is that the bulk of the reliable 



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