CHONDROCRANIUM OF EUMECES 153 
This course is also recorded as characteristic of Amphibia (Gaupp, 
11) and Mammalia (Fuchs, ’10; Gaupp, 711). On the other 
hand, in turtles the nerve is described by Gaupp (’05 b), Noack 
(07), Fuchs (10), Nick (12), and Kunkel (12 b) as having an ‘intra- 
capsular’ course—entering the otic capsule through an independ- 
ent ‘foramen glossopharyngei internum’ in its median cartilagi- 
nous wall, and emerging through a similar independent ‘foramen 
glossopharyngel externum’ in its lateral wall. This course is 
also apparently characteristic of the snakes, although the records 
for this group are not above reproach. Gaupp (711) mentions 
this course as probable in Tropidonotus. Mdller (05) describes 
the internal foramen for all stages of Vipera, but records a curious 
variability for the exit from the otic capsule—sometimes through 
an independent foramen, sometimes through the fenestra cochleae 
and sometimes through the fenestra vestibuli. Peyer (712), also 
working on Vipera, describes the glossopharyngeus as emerging 
through the fissura metotica, but mentions another undeter- 
mined nerve as penetrating the wall of the otic capsule. Is it 
possible that this undetermined nerve is really the glossopha- 
ryngeus, and the so-called ‘glossopharyngeus’ a part of the vago- 
accessorius complex? 
Gaupp has given a very detailed description of the extra- 
capsular course of the nerve in Lacerta, with which stage 5 of 
Eumeces is in the fullest agreement. In figure 12 the nerve 
(n..X.) is seen passing from the cavum cranii through the mem- 
brane closing the median aperture of the recessus scalae tympani; 
in figure 10 it lies within the recessus; in figure 11 it is emerging 
through the closing membrane of the lateral aperture. If the 
interpretation of the preceding paragraphs is correct, and the 
closing membrane of the fenestra cochleae (or of the median and 
lateral apertures of the recessus scalae tympani) is really a part 
of the otic capsule, then the glossopharyngeus of Lacerta and of 
stage 5 of Eumeces really passes through the otic capsule in a 
manner not essentially different from thatintheturtles. Whether 
conditions are the same in Sphenodon and the crocodiles is not 
clear from the brief accounts available, but this is highly probable. 
