164 STRONG. [Vol. X. 



the VIII, and also the ganglion on the fasciculus communis 

 root, which should be at the point where the R. palatinus is 

 given off. The "ganglion buccalis " (= ganglion on ventral 

 half of dorsal VII) of the authors, as shall be seen below, has 

 nothing to do with the ganglion geniculi nor their R. buccalis 

 (R. mandibularis externus) with the chorda tympani. 



Another correction of their paper is to be made in connec- 

 tion with the IX + X. According to their text and figures, 

 the anterior (farthest cephalad) and undoubtedly lateral line 

 root emerges from the ganglion, not as the N. lateralis, but as 

 the N. glossopharyngeus. I have traced this coarse-fibred 

 anterior root in Amblystoma larvae through the vago-glosso- 

 pharyngeal ganglionic complex until it emerges posteriorly as 

 the N. lateralis just dorsal to and parallel with the R. visceralis 

 (R. intestinalis), as figured also by von Plessen and Rabino- 

 vicz. This error probably arose from these authors supposing 

 that the most anterior root of the IX-fX series must be the 

 Glossopharyngeus. 



Arnold (5) has described an interesting condition in Pipa 

 Americana^ where the VIII, VII, and V are fused at their 

 origin, and the VII and V remain in continuity as far as the 

 Gasserian ganglion. As his work was done upon young speci- 

 mens, it is possible the lateral line nerves are among those 

 described, and, in fact, the R. ophthalmicus superficialis VII is 

 apparently there identified. What other nerves are to be identi- 

 fied as belonging to this system it is hardly possible to point 

 out, especially as their fusion with the trigeminal branches is 

 here probably carried to an extreme. 



I have myself observed in members of the Hylidae, that the 

 separation between the roots of these nerves is quite slight. 



Another difference observable between the condition of this 

 component in the tadpole and in Urodela, as seen in Amblys- 

 toma and Cryptobranchus, is that it is relatively considerably 

 larger in the latter type. Its final disappearance in the Anura 

 seems to be foreshadowed in the tadpole. (An excellent in- 

 stance of developing embryonic abbreviation.) 



A peculiar circumstance connected with this diminution in 

 the tadpole is the fact, already referred to, that the space 



