No. 2.] 



LINE SYSTEM OF BATRACHUS TAU. 



247 



■.t.c 



cells, having no connection with the nerve, as suggested by 

 Bodenstein, when he speaks of the possibility of its forming 

 anastomoses with the nerves in the series of sensory hillocks. 

 Emery (26) describes what he calls "epithelial canals" in the 

 adult Fierasfer, and 

 his figures leave no 

 doubt as to their 

 homology with the 

 connecting strand of 

 Batrachus (Cuts 6 

 and 7). No mention 

 is made of any con- 

 necting canals be- 

 tween the canal 



orgatis, but they are evidently well developed between the 

 " nerve buttons " (pit organs) of the accessory lines. 



The fact that these "canals" sometimes branch and end 

 blindly (Cut 7) is a peculiar characteristic if these canals are 

 functional. E.xactly similar peculiarities are noticed in the 

 case of the strand in Batrachus. The free organs situated in 

 a line parallel with the canal on the mandible have the strand 



■ (Oil. St. 



Cut 6. — Copied from Fig. 58, Emery (26). 



Cut 7. — Copied from Fig. 6, Emery (z6). 



directed at right angles to the canal, and in one case the end 

 of the cord was branched in a similar way to that figured 

 by Emery. In a series of cross-sections the irregular out- 

 line of this strand in Batrachus becomes evident (Cut 8). 

 There is some indication of its being fibrous in structure, and 



