ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
Nore on the Existence of a pair of SvB-cUTANEOUS 
Oririces in the Heap of the Ext and Concer. By the 
Rev. W. Hoveuton, F.L.S. 
Havine been occupied at intervals during the last three 
months in dissecting a number of eels (Anguilla acutirostris) 
and a couple of Congers, I observed the invariable presence 
of two sub-triangular openings in the fleshy portion of the 
head, just at its juncture with the spinal column. My first 
impression with regard to the use of these orifices was that 
they were connected with the auditory organs, and that they 
probably led to the vestibular cavity. Although so far, I 
believe, as has hitherto been observed, the existence of 
external auditory organs in the whole class of fishes is very 
exceptional—the skates amongst the cartilaginous order, 
and a few of the members belonging to the Gadide and 
Clupeide amongst the osseous order alone possessing them— 
still I thought it not improbable that the eel, which is 
commonly supposed to hear well, and which is occasionally 
an overland traveller, might prove another exception to the 
general rule. I may observe that Mr. Cholmondeley 
Pennell, in his recently published work, ‘The Angler 
Naturalist’ (p. 397), asserts the presence of an “ear or 
auditory aperture” amongst the various mucus pores about 
the head, but from the most minute examination of a large 
number of eels’ heads I can confidently affirm that no such 
external auditory aperture exists. I have, therefore, no doubt 
that Mr. Pennell must have mistaken two of the mucus 
pores for ears. 
Upon my inserting a bristle in each of these orifices, and 
on clearing away the flesh from the head, I found that each 
bristle traversed a closed-in duct or tube in the cranium, and 
VOL. IV.— NEW SER. ‘ A 
