212 



teilung gelangen, wurde teils (Methode und Säugetiere) am hiesigen 

 physiologischen Institut, teils (Petromyzon und Pycnogonide) an der 

 zoologischen Station in Helder gemacht. Veranlassung zum Studium 

 des Petromyzon gaben die Arbeiten von Giglio-Tos (1. c). 

 Leyden, 8. November 1898. 



Nachdruck verboten. 



The Giant Ganglion Cells in the Spinal Cord of Ctenolabrus 



co?rnleus 1 ). 



(Preliminary Paper.) 

 By Porter Edward Sargent, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A. 



With 10 Figures. 



During the winter of 1897 — 98 while engaged in the study of 

 Golgi preparations of the brain of the common cunner, Ctenolabrus 

 coeruleus, my attention was attracted to large bodies lying in the me- 

 dian dorsal fissure of the spinal cord. A little study showed them to 

 be nerve cells of gigantic proportions, each with a ventral process. 



The following preliminary paper is a summary of studies made 

 during the spring of 1898. A critical discussion of the subject will 

 not be attempted in this paper, that being reserved for the final article. 

 I wish here to express my obligations to Prof. E. L. Mark for kindly 

 advice and assistance, and to Mr. Alexander Agassiz for opportu- 

 nities enjoyed at his Newport Laboratory, where the material for the 

 present study was collected and prepared. 



Colossal ganglion cells in the spinal cord of certain Ichthyopsida 

 have attracted the attention of many observers during the past forty 

 years. Upward of sixty articles in the literature deal with such cells 

 more or less extensively. The greater number of these papers have 

 to do with a transient nervous apparatus existing only in embryos 

 and larval stages. The more recent papers on this subject are those 

 of Beard ('96, '96a) and Studnicka ('95). 



In adult fishes giant ganglion cells occurring in the dorsal portion 

 of the cord have been noted by many investigators from Müller ('44) 



1) Contributions from the Zoological Laboratory of the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, under the direction of 

 E. L. Mark, No. XCIV. 



