191 



It may be seen from the illustration that the right spermatic vein 

 joins its cardinal about its middle, while the left ends only a little 

 way below the level of the left renal vein. Three more pairs of seg- 

 mental veins entering the cardinals can be made out. On the right 

 side one joins its cardinal above the right spermatic, and three below 

 it: on the left side all four are situated below the junction of the 

 left spermatic vein with its cardinal. These segmental veins (lumbar 

 veins) form irregular anastomoses which constitute rootlets of the 

 vena azygos major, but the latter vessel has a much more definite 

 communication with the junction of the right renal with its cardinal 

 vein. This condition also holds good for the origin of the vena azygos 

 minor inferior, which vessel is however considerably smaller than the 

 vena azygos major as is the case after birth. The capsular veins join 

 the azygos veins obliquely close to. their origin; they are almost sym- 

 metrically disposed on either side. 



Each cardinal as it proceeds upward is separated from the ab- 

 dominal aorta by an interval in which the inner edge of the psoas 

 muscle is visible. 



The well known variation found in the adult, in which the lower 

 part of the inferior vena cava is absent and a pair of long common 

 iliac veins ascend, one on the right and the other on the left of the 

 abdominal aorta, to the level of the renal veins which open respectively 

 into each common iliac, resembles the condition herein described, but 

 owing to their equal persistence on both sides and "their great size, 

 hardly inferior in calibre to the true inferior vena cava, it seems 

 better to speak of these ascending veins in this instance as cardinals 

 which have not only persisted but developed fully with the post-natal 

 growth of the individual, and yet have retained their embryonic position 

 unchanged. 



Bücheranzeigen. 



Bau und Geschichte der Erde. Von O. Abel (Wien). Mit 226 Text- 

 figuren und 6 Farbentafeln u. Karten. Wien, F. Tempsky, Leipzig, 

 G. Freytag, 1909. VIII, 220 pp. Preis geb. 4 M. 50 Pf. oder 5 Kr. 

 40 h. 



Die von der k. k. zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien An- 

 fang 1908 einberufene „Enquete zur Reform des naturwissenschaftlichen 

 Unterrichtes an Mittelschulen" hatte einstimmig den Vorschlag ange- 

 nommen, die Lehre vom Bau und der Geschichte der Erde als Schluß- 

 stein des naturwissenschaftlichen Unterrichtes in die oberste Klasse zu 



