On the Cartilago palatina and the Organ of Jacobson in some Mammals. 361 



Voit 1 in his work ou the primordial crane of the rabbit has, 

 with regard to the homology of this cartilage, arrived at the same 

 result as Broom. 



In Chiroptera the cartilago palatina is to be found. In some 

 bats we find it connected in a complicated way with other car- 

 tilages. Especially in the Vespertilionidae it presents very in- 

 teresting features. According to Grosser 2 , who has described it 

 under the name of cartilago posterior lateralis, it is here of con- 

 siderable size, and in some individuals of Vesperugo noctula he has 

 found it nnited with its fellow of the opposite side. He states tliat 

 it forms the floor of the nasal cavity in front replacing the wanting 

 part of the palatum durum. 



Grosser also cites an interesting Observation of Schwixk that 

 the cartilago posterior lateralis — i. e. cartilago palatina — occurs' 

 quite isolated in embryos of Vespertüio murinus, and he suppo«es 

 that it remains isolated also in the adult animal. 



Zuckerkandl 3 mentions that in Vespertüio my 'stacinus there is 

 a cartilage connected with the cartilago ductus naso-palatini and 

 which increases in breath behind the naso-palatine canal »um da, 

 wo der Gaumen nicht knöchern ist, das Skelet desselben beizustellen«. 

 (Cfr. textfigure 13 p.p.l. iu the above mentioned paper.) 



Judging from the textfigure 16 {p.p.l.) in the same paper the 

 cartilago palatina is also present in Pteropus sp. The author de- 

 scribes a cartilaginous plate situated vertically on the outer side of 

 the naso-palatine canal, behind which it increases in breath and 

 assumes a horizontal position completiug the secondary palate. 



In this connection I think proper to mention that in an embryo 

 of Pteropus giganteus, which I have examined, the cartilages of 

 both sides are in places united with each other. This Observation 

 of mine thus agrees with what Grosser found in Vesperugo noctula. 



In Miniopterus schreibersi* the well developed cartilage de- 

 scribed as the outer part of the cartilago ductus nasopalatini is 

 probably homologous with the cartilago palatina. 



1 Max Voit, Das Primordialcranium des Kaninchens unter Berücksichtigung 

 der Deckknochen. Ein Beitrag zur Morphologie des Säugetierschädels. Anat. 

 Hefte. 1. Abt. XXXVIII. Bd. 1909. 



2 Otto Grosser, Zur Anatomie der Nasenhöhle und des Rachens der ein- 

 heimischen Chiropteren. Morphol. Jahrb. Bd. XXIX. 1902. 



3 E. Zuckerkandl, Über den JACOBSONschen Knorpel und die Ossifikation 

 des Pflugscharbeines. Sitzungsber. d. Kais. Akad. Bd. CXVII. Abt. 3. Wien 1909. 



4 R. Broom, 1898 1. c. 



24* 



