Cmyuscles, &e., in the Frog-Tadpole's Tail. Ill 



excellent observers on these points. Dr. Beale, in his paper " On 

 the Kelation of Nerves to Pigment and other Cells or Elementary- 

 Parts " (vol. vii. p. 45 of this Journal), renounces the view held 

 by others, and I believe Dr. Klein also does not admit the intimate 

 union or fusion of these tissues in the cornea. On the other 

 hand, Pouchet has given us some good observations, in the Journal 

 for 1871 (vol. vi., p. 285), on the connection between nerves and 

 chromoblasts. He states that in all cases the tissues were stained 

 with chloride of gold, and speaks only of the specimens prepared 

 according to the directions given at p. 286, " without asserting the 

 existence of a direct relation between the nerve fibres and the chro- 

 moblasts," yet the characteristic appearances given in the figures 

 point rather to the affirmative. 



It seems hardly feasible to attempt to reason upon what is 

 or may be the action of the nervous influence on these or the 

 connective-tissue corpuscles generally, until we have more unity 

 of opinion as to the true nature of each of these interesting httle 

 bodies. Possibly by researches drawn from creatures lower in 

 the scale of life, as in the transparent marine mollusca, &c., and 

 upon a far greater number of instances than are at present cited, 

 a correct hypothesis of the relationship between these tissues may 

 be established. 



At Fig. 3 is given the appearance of a subepithehal plexus of 

 fine nerve branches lying upon and near to a cutaneous gland cell. 

 The closest examination failed to discover the entrance of any of the 

 branches of the network entering the substance of the small cell, 

 nor have I been more successful in some sections made through the 

 large cutaneous cells situated in the skin of the frog near the nares. 

 Eberth, I believe, first pointed out the nerve plexus to the cutaneous 

 glands of the frog. 



Fig. 4 represents the appearance of a very fine subepithelial 

 network, carefully drawn (though without the aid of the camera 

 lucida, as employed in the other figures), and which I take to be 

 the same as described by Dr. Klein, and beautifully figured in his 

 * Beitrage zur Kentniss der Nerven des Froschlarvenschwanzes,' 

 for a reprint of which I am indebted to his kindness. 



It was only after the examination of a very large number of 

 specimens of the tail of the tadpole, also of the young smooth newt, 

 that here and there distinct views of this network were obtained, 

 and even then I must confess it considerably taxed the patience. In 

 most of the recent specimens prepared somewhat after the methods 

 described last year, the minute terminal network or anastomosis of 

 the very finest branches of the connective-tissue corpuscles appeared 

 to be largely mingled with this network, and to prevent securing as 

 clear views of it as desired ; but after gold staining, adopting the 

 plan of immersing the tail in absolute alcohol acidified with acetic 



