THE CHONDROCRANIUM IN THE ICHTHTOPSIDA. 113 



been variously called the ' antorbital process ' and the 

 'palatine cartilage.' Gaiipp ('91) maintained the homol- 

 ogy of the ' antorbital ' of the Urodela with the palatine 

 of the Anura. Speaking of this cartilage in Amphiuma, 

 Kingsley ('92) said, "the lower process may retain the 

 name, antorbital, usually applied to it, for Amphiuma 

 presents no evidence that it is the palatine cartilage as 

 Gaupp interprets it." In his final paper on the chondro- 

 cranium of Rana, Gaupp ('93) repeats his former position 

 and, stating that he uses the two terms interchangeably, 

 comments upon the above quotation as follows : " Kings- 

 ley scheint unter 'Palatine Cartilage ' hier etwas Besond- 

 eres zu verstehen ; was das ist, kann ich aus seinen 

 Angaben nicht ersehen." 



There seems to be no doubt as to the correctness of the 

 homology of the cartilages as pointed out by Gaupp. The 

 question here, however, is one of terminology and it is 

 not to be settled by the fact that certain authors have 

 called this cartilage the palatine, but upon the broader 

 grounds of comparative anatomy, and here the question 

 of priority must also be taken into account. The term 

 palatine bone in some of its various modifications was first 

 applied to a bone occurring in the palatal region of the 

 Mammalia, and, in transferring the name to other classes of 

 vertebrates, it is obligatory that it should be given only 

 to those structures which are homologous with the palatine 

 of mammals. That the palatine bone of the Amphibia is 

 homologous with the palatine bone in the mammals I do 

 not deny, but I maintain that this cartilaginous process is 

 in no Avay a palatine process but that rather its relations 

 are with the nasal capsule, and for the following reasons : 



In the mammals the palatine bone is regularly enum- 

 erated among the membrane bones (Minot '92, inter alia) 

 and, so far as I am aware, it has no connection with any 



ESSEX IN8T. BULLETIN, VOL. XXVIII 8 



