377 



discussing the supratemporal commissure. Cole says that the nerve 

 that innervates this organ "undoubtedly seems to correspond to the 

 otic branch of the buccal of other Fishes", a conclusion differing con- 

 siderably from mine. 



Halleh (No. 10) has recently said of the nerve described by me 

 in Amia as the dorsal branch of the glossopharyngeus : "Stimme ich 

 nun hierin mit Allis auch überein , so muß ich ihm in einem anderen 

 Punkte entschieden entgegentreten, denn die Behauptung, vom N. lateralis 

 gelangten Fasern an der Kreuzungsstelle in den Glossopharyngeus, 

 wodurch dessen Dorsalast gebildet wurde, beruht sicherlich auf Irrtum." 

 Here I think that Haller has overlooked either the unquestionable 

 sense organ character ascribed by me to the nerve in question, or my 

 statement that the interchange of fibres noted, where the roots of the 

 two nerves crossed in Amia , was of sense-organ fibres only. He also 

 could not have noted Kingsbury's statement (No. 14, p. 6) that, in 

 Acipenser, "It [the lateral line nerve] also receives a small contingent 

 of fine fibres from the IX*' 1 and in turn gives to it a small bundle of 

 its coarse fibres". Moreover the nerve of Amia seems certainly to 

 have its homologue in a somewhat independent branch of the nervus 

 lateralis that is described by Haller in the following words on p. 408: 

 "Hier, vor dem Vagusstamm gelegen, giebt der N. lateralis einen 

 feinen, doch mit selbständigem Ganglion versehenen Ast nach vorn zu 

 ab." That this branch, in Scyllium or Salmo, Haller does not state 

 definitely which it is, should thus have a measure of independence 

 from the nervus lateralis, notwithstanding the fact that it issues from the 

 skull by the same foramen as that nerve, certainly indicates that it is 

 not a branch of the lateralis in the same limited sense that the other 

 non-ganglionated branches are. 



As to Cole's assertion (No. 7, p. 199) that Johnston's work has 

 entirely dispelled the illusion that the IX''' nerve, in Acipenser, has 

 any part in the innervation of the lateral system, I think it would be 

 well to reserve one's judgement until the peripheral distribution of the 

 nerves in that fish has been more carefully investigated ; for Kings- 

 bury's definite statement (No. 14, p. 6) that lateral fibres are sent, in 

 Acipenser, from the linea lateralis to the glossopharyngeus is not to 

 be so lightly set aside. That Cole has overlooked this statement seems 

 impossible, since, but a few lines previous, he has referred to the very 

 page of Kingsbury's work on which the statement is found. He must, 

 therefore, include Kingsbury among those older writers on the subject 

 to whose erroneous descriptions he refers. If, nevertheless, Kingsbury 

 is correct, and not in error, Acipenser would probably present an 

 arrangement of the nerves in question strikingly similar to that described 

 by me in Amia. If, on the contrary, his statement is incorrect, an 

 arrangement similar to that described by Haller in Scyllium or Salmo 

 might still be found to exist. 



Palais Carnoles, Menton, Jan. 10th } 1899. 



