Herrick, Cranial Nerves of the Cod Fish. 281 



of these twigs for pit-organs are accompanied by general cuta- 

 neous fibers ; sometimes these join the lateralis twigs at once 

 upon their separation from the buccalis, sometimes they apply 

 themselves to these twigs later. The general cutaneous supply 

 of this region comes from the r. maxillaris. 



The curious nerve which Cole describes ('98, p. 158) from 

 the r. buccalis to a pit-organ near the cephalic end of the supra- 

 orbital canal I also find and verify his description. I have 

 already commented ('99, Sec. 7, VII, 6, at end) upon Cole's 

 interpretation of this nerve and shown evidence that it is a 

 nerve of rather wide occurrence among the fishes. 



The r. maxillaris is composed of fine fibers with a few very 

 coarse ones and a larger number of medium size scattered 

 among them, an arrangement which is characteristic of general 

 cutaneous nerves. We have seen that this nerve also receives 

 a communis element from the geniculate ganglion. 



It runs forward under the eye as a compact bundle internal 

 to the r. buccalis and internal and dorsal to the r. mandibularis 

 V. Upon the separation of the r. mandibularis to enter the 

 lower jaw the r. maxillaris retains its former relation to the r. 

 buccalis. In this part of its course it gives off no branches. 

 In the cephalic part of the orbit (at about the level of the fifth 

 supra-orbital canal organ) it breaks up into several branches of 

 unequal size, of which one passes out laterally between the 

 upper and lower inner buccal branches and distributes to the 

 skin of the cephalic border of the orbit. The other bundles 

 into which the r. maxillaris divides in the cephaHc part of the 

 orbit are (i) the largest one, lying farthest mesially ; (2) one 

 somewhat smaller, lying dorsally ; and (3 and 4) two very small 

 ones ventrally, all running very close together for a considerable 

 distance. The smaller ventral branch (4) passes to the skin 

 of the snout just dorsally of the maxillary bone. The larger 

 of the two ventral branches (3) runs down farther cephalad into 

 the skin overlying the maxillary bone about the posterior angle 

 of the gape. The dorsal one (2) in front of the orbit under 

 the nasal sac applies itself closely to the inner face of the upper 

 inner buccal branch, and the fibers of the two nerves interlace 



