Hardesty, spinal Nerves of the Frog. 337 



branches in his counts. He used Rana esculenta, and noth- 

 ing is known as to how great a distal excess is to be expected 

 for this species. For the 9th. nerve of Rana virescens, 25% 

 is quite possible. 



More recently, Dale ('00) has made similar counts of the 

 fibers in some of the coccygeal, two thoracic and one lumber 

 nerve of the cat. He reports having found an average excess 

 of only o. 5 % on the distal side of the ganglion. Whether 

 Dale included the dorsal branches in making his counts, he does 

 not exactly say. He mentions only the trunk in his tables and 

 the text referring to them, and compares his results with those 

 of HoU, Stienon. and Birge, none of whom did include the 

 dorsal branches. 



The 6th. nerve being the only one dealt with here, it is to 

 be assumed that higher distal excesses are found than would be 

 had other spinal nerves been included. The numerical excess 

 found for each of the specimens can be seen in Table I, but in 

 order to present some relations not emphasized in Table I, a 

 special table is given. 



Table II contains the numbers (taken from Table I) repre- 

 senting in column i, the sum of the two roots; in column 2, 

 the sum of the trunk and dorsal branches, and in column 3, the 

 amount by which the latter* exceeds the former. In column 4, 

 of this table, given in round numbers are the amounts per cent, 

 by which, in each case, the fibers on the distal side of the gan- 

 glion exceed those on the proximal side ; i. e. , the percentage 

 values of the distal excess. Columns 5 and 6 give an oppor- 

 tunity to compare the relations between the number of fibers 

 contained in the trunk and dorsal branches with the number 

 constituting the distal excess, and column 7 allows a compari- 

 son of the number of fibers in the ventral root with the number 

 constituting the excess. The specimens are arranged in the 

 order of their weights. It is seen that in every case the distal 

 excess is large. * 



