Subcutaneous Vessels in Tail of Lepisosteus 59 



subcutaneous vessels from the fin, and reunite in an unimpaired trunk 

 at the posterior insertion of the fin. At the junction a reservoir of 

 considerable size is formed, which is also in communication with the 

 vena postica and the vena profunda, as has already been noted under 

 the head of the dorsal vein (p. 54). 



Concerning the caudal distribution of the dorsal trunk in Teleosts, 

 Trois tells us with Lophius' (pp. 6-7) and Uranoscopus^ (p. 23) that 

 the dorsal lymphatic trunk divides into three in the region of the 

 dorsal fin; one branch passes through the median basal canal, and the 

 other two encircle the base of the fin. With Lophius, Fig. 3, shows this 

 trunk as having superficial connections with the lateral trunk, and 

 Fig. 4 represents the dorsal, ventral, neural and haemal longitudinal 

 trunks as anastomosing at the base of the tail; while the neural vessels 

 connect the dorsal with the neural trunks, and the hsemal vessels the 

 ventral and the haemal trunks. A somewhat similar arrangement was 

 found by Sappey for the carp and the pike {op. cit., p. 47, and Pis. XI 

 and XII, Figs. V, I and II, 4, 8 and 15), except that the dorsal trunk 

 was not prolonged to the tail. In Pleuronectes, Sappey notes (p. 50) 

 that the dorsal lymphatic trunk (PI. XII, Fig. IV, 1) is continuous 

 with the caudal and the ventral, forming an elliptical trunk about the 

 body, which ends dorso-cephalad in the jugular vein, and ventro- 

 cephalad in ductus of Cuvier. Throughout its course it was said to be 

 a single trunk, passing through the basal canal of the fins. In a 

 previous paper^ it was stated (pp. 54-5) that the distribution of the 

 dorsal l}Tnphatic trunk of Scorpceniclitliys (Figs. 1 and 4, d. I. v.) was 

 not dissimilar to Trois' description of it for Lophius. It was connected 

 with the lateral trunk, the intermuscular or transverse vessels, and with 

 the neural trunk through the neural vessels. Its caudal distribution has 

 also been studied, but has been reserved for a separate paper. 



As for the Ganoids, Hopkins contends {op. cit., p. 373) that the 

 dorsal lymphatic trunk (Fig. 10, n.) of Amiatus is a single trunk, 

 which extends along the dorso-meson from the caudal end of the body 

 to the base of the cranium. At the cranium the dorsal trunk is said to 



'Trois, E. F. "Ricercbe sul sistema linfatico del Lophius piscatorius," 

 Atti del R. Institute Veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti, pp. 3-20, 1878. 



'Trois, E. F. "Rieherche sul sistema linfatico dell' Uranoscopus scaber," 

 Atti del R. Instituto Teneto di scienze, lettere ed arti^ pp. 19-36, 1880. 



'Allen, W. F. "Distribution of the Lymphatics in the Head, and in the 

 Dorsal, Pectoral, and Ventral Fins of Scorpsenichthys marmoratus," Proc. 

 Wash. Acad, of Sci., Vol. VIII, pp. 41-90, 1906. 



