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Nachdruck verboten. 
Note on the Blood Vessels of the Heart in the Sunfish 
(Orthagoriseus mola LINN.)'). 
By G. H. Parker, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
With 1 Figure. 
In a recent paper by the writer and Miss F. K. Davis (PARKER 
and Davis, 99) on the blood vessels of the fish heart, it was pointed 
out that the coronary arteries of the Teleostomes there described re- 
ceived their blood from the efferent arteries of the fourth visceral arch 
(second branchial arch), and a review of the literature showed this to 
be true for all other Teleostomes previously examined except the sun- 
fish. In this, according to Minne Epwarps (58, p. 341), the cor- 
onary arteries are supplied not only from the fourth arch, as in all 
other Teleostomes, but also from the third, fifth, and sixth arches, as 
in Elasmobranchs. This condition seemed so exceptional that we sus- 
pected the accuracy of Minne Epwarps’ description, but as we had 
no material upon which to base a critical discussion, we noted the 
case as an exception needing further investigation. Since then the 
writer has had the opportunity of studying two sunfishes, both obtained 
at Woods Hole, Mass., through the kindness of Professor W. DAHLGREN. 
They were dissected at the Laboratory of the United States Fish Com- 
mission, to the director of which, Professor H. C. Bumpus, the writer 
is under obligations for many courtesies. 
The accompanying figure gives the arrangement of the principal 
vessels in the region of the heart, as well as parts of the right gills, 
of a sunfish seen from the right side. The four comb-gills are borne 
on the third to sixth visceral arches inclusive (JJJ— VI), and each one 
receives a large afferent artery from the ventral aorta (ao. v.). The 
artery for the sixth arch is peculiar in that it takes its origin from 
the aorta between the arteries for the fourth and fifth arches, instead 
of posterior to the latter. From the efferent arteries of arches three, 
four, and five, small vessels are given off, which extend parallel to the 
afferent arteries and toward the ventral aorta. Before reaching this, 
1) Contributions from the Zoölogical Laboratory of the Museum of 
Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College, E. L, Mark, Director, No. 113. 
