[43] THE O^EOLOGY OF AMIA CALVA. 789 



PA.IIT II. 



Heiiricus Fraiique, doctor of medicine and surgery, published his 

 famous monograph, entitled Amise Calvae, Anatomian Descripsit Taba- 

 laque Illustravit, in Berlin in 1847. The pamphlet form of this unique 

 paper, familiar to all anatomists "who have worked upon or are interested 

 in the osteology of fishes, now lies before me. It extends through seven 

 pages, written in Latin, ujjon the skeleton of Amia calva, with refer- 

 ences to some of the soft parts ; description of figures in the plate, and 

 the plate itself. This latter presents eleven figures, four of wliich are 

 devoted to the skeleton ; Fig. 9 to a scale ; while the remainder illus- 

 trate various things in the soft anatomy. Fig. 1 is an upper view of 

 the skull, with all the " cover-bones " retained in their normal positions. 

 In Fig. 2 we are presented with a left lateral view of the entire skele- 

 ton of a moderately sized fish of this species. Fig. 3 gives an infe- 

 rior view of a part of the cranium, with the entire hyobranchial appa- 

 ratus removed. 



ThCvse figures are all well done, and in a style iDeculiar to themselves, 

 bold and clear, though lacking in some points of minute detail. Three 

 of these figures have been copied for me by Mr. H. L. Todd, and re- 

 duced by photograph for the purpose of adding to this article the figure 

 of the lateral view of the entire skeleton. This will be valuable in 

 showing the general relation and arrangement of the bones. 



The excellent article of Bridge*^ is good as far as it goes, but he" treats 

 of the skull of Amia only, and we still have to resort to other works to 

 study the extremely interesting points in the remainder of the skeleton. 

 Moreover, as Mr. Bridge's paper was published in the Journal of Anat- 

 omy, it is not i)articularly available to a very large number of Ameri- 

 can workers. Indeed, this valuable periodical is not subscribed for by 

 nearly as many of our. libraries and institutions as it should be, nor as 

 it deserves to be. To present a good account of the entire history of 

 the skeleton of Amia is the principal object I had in view upon under- 

 taking the present paper." Just previous to Dr. Sagemehl's pai^er, 

 which constitutes Part I of this memoir. Bridge very truly tells us, in 

 his article, when reviewing all that anatomists had done with the skel 

 eton of this Ganoid up to 1877, that " the cranial osteology of living 

 Ganoids has been hitherto but partially investigated ; and even those 

 genera that have been described by the older anatomical writers will 

 abundantly repay renewed investigation now that the researches of 

 Parker, Gegeubaur, and Huxley have thrown so much light upon the 

 morphology of the vertebrate skull." 



■"* Bridge, T. W. — The Cranial Osteology of Amia Calva. Jour, of Anat., normal and 

 j^athol. Vol. XI, Pt. IV, page 603. Edinburgh and Lond,, July, 1877. 



