THE LATERAL LINE SYSTEM OF BATRACHUS 



TAU. 



CORNELIA M. CLAPP. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 223 Innervation 232 



General Considerations 237 



I. Adult Form. 



General Description 225 H- Larval Forms. 



Topography of the Lateral Line Origin of the Lateral Line System 238 



System 226 (i) Lateral line sense organs 238 



(i) Infraorbital line 226 (2) Lateral line nerves 242 



(2) Supraorbital line 227 (3) Formation of canals 244 



(3) Operculo-mandibular line 227 (4) Connecting strand 245 



(4) Body lines 22S Comparison with other teleosts 249 



Canals 228 Comparison with ganoids 250 



(1 ) Pores 229 Comparison with selachians 250 



(2) Relation of canals to cranial Comparison with dipnoids 250 



bones 230 Comparison with cyclostomes 250 



Number and position of organs 231 Comparison with Amphibia 251 



Variations 232 General Summary 251 



Introduction. 



In a recent contribution to the " Skin and Cutaneous Sense 

 Organs of Teleosts," Leydig (i) says: "Every one who has 

 worked in this field shares the conviction that there is need 

 of the cooperating participation of many observers before any 

 conclusive presentation of the subject is possible." 



As the discoverer of the true nature of the so-called " lateral 

 line" of fishes, Leydig's words have weight, when, after nearly 

 fifty years of investigation, he is obliged to confess that " the 

 points still obscure outnumber by far those well ascertained." 



Kupffer maintains that we are still on the very threshold of 

 a history of the development of the peripheral nervous system. 

 It is therefore the task of the investigator to furnish data for 

 the future work of generalization. 



