WILLARD: CRANIAL NERVES OF ANOLIS CAROLINENSIS. 23 
and Phrynosoma. As to general external features and habits of life, 
the members of this family are most diverse, as will be seen by com- 
paring two such forms as Phrynosoma and Anolis. 
E. HISTORICAL STATEMENT. 
The Sauropsida have been quite generally neglected as regards the 
anatomy of the nervous system in the adult, most of the descriptive 
accounts having been written more than fifty years ago. This applies 
equally well to other reptiles and to birds, notwithstanding the fact that 
the latter have long since become of classic forms for embryological 
study. Aside from the embryological studies on birds and reptiles, such 
work as has been done has used exclusively the methods of gross anat- 
omy and must necessarily beincomplete. It might be added that those 
who have more recently contributed to our knowledge of the saurop- 
sidan nervous system and who use only the methods of the older 
anatomists increase our knowledge comparatively little. Much of 
the older work cannot be excelled within its limitations. The modern 
investigator should profit by modern methods and remove some of 
these limitations. The first important account of reptilian anatomy 
is by Bojanus (’19) in his monograph on the anatomy of the turtle. 
This is a classic, and is still the authority for much of the subject it 
covers. No other investigator has gone over the same field in so 
thorough a manner. | 
Vogt (’39) gives us, in his dissection of Python tigris, our first in- 
formation on the cranial nerves of the Ophidia. This, however, is 
incomplete, nerves IV, VI, and IX not being found at all, and III only 
‘partially dissected out. 
Miller (’40) about the same time discussed the nervous system of 
‘reptiles in his Neurologie der Myxinoiden. Bendz (’48) made a 
comparative study of the last four cranial nerves (or the vagus group) 
in reptiles, including among those studied two saurians, the alligator 
and the chamaeleon. Fischer’s (’52) paper on the saurians is still 
the most important descriptive work on the cranial nerves of reptiles. 
He studied eleven species of lizards, two of crocodiles and the alli- 
» gator. He treated the subject quite exhaustively and made use 
of comparative methods to establish certain homologies. Rabl- 
Riickhard (’78) gave in his description of the alligator’s central 
nervous system, the first account of a reptilian brain. He inciden- 
tally mentioned the roots of the cranial nerves. Hoffmann (’79-90), 
