930 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE ANATOMY [DeC, 15, 



doubt whatever about this. An inspection of my figures, which 

 Avere drawn quite independently of any directions from myself, 

 will settle this matter. It is well known that variation is apt 

 to affect organs or series of organs undergoing reduction. And, 

 therefore, I dwell upon this fact as bearing upon the view upheld 

 here, that in this Frog we have a persistent multiplicity of lymph- 

 hearts, such as that which characterizes certain Urodeles, ^but 

 which is considei-ably reduced. 



The interest attachhig to these facts concerning the posterior 

 lymph-hearts of Xenojyus is not only that they are — so far as I 

 am aware — a contribution to the anatomy of that Frog. Their 

 chief interest centres in the possibility of comparing them Avith 

 the multiple lymph-hearts of certain Urodeles. With regard to 

 this matter Dr. Wiedersheim sums up as follows in his ' Yergleich- 

 ende Anatomie der Wirbelthiere ' * : — " Bei Salamandra macu- 

 losa und Siredon jnsciformis sitzen zahlreiche Lympherzen langs 

 des Sidcus lateralis unter der Haut und zwar entfallen bei dem 

 erstgenannten Thier auf dem SchAvanz (beide Seiten zusammen- 

 gerechnet) 10-12, auf den Rumpf mindestens ebensoviel. Bei 

 Siredon pisciformis finden sich jederseits 8 rhythmisch pulsirende 

 Lympherzen die Avie bei Salamandra macidosa aus ovalen, von 

 quergestreifter Muskulatur uniAvickelten Bliischen bestehen." 

 These facts Avere fii'st discoA^ered by Weliky t. 



§ The Lymph- Hearts of Rana guppyi. 



Although it is usually stated in books and memoirs dealing 

 with the anatomy of Rana that the posterior lymph-heart is a 

 .single structure on each side, this is not the universal view. 

 HoyerJ has given an account, with figures in the text, of the 

 lymph-heart of Rana esculenta. A longitudinal section of one of 

 the hearts given by him shows three distinct cavities, of which 

 the hindermost is the larger. It is to be noted, however, that 

 this figure is hardly convincing of itself as to the existence of 

 three separate hearts, such as Ave have seen exist in Xenopus, 

 For the muscular wall shown in Hoyer's figure extends without a 

 break over the three cavities ; there is no such complete separation 

 as is indicated in text-figure 189 (p. 927) of the present communi- 

 cation. And so far, therefore. Dr. Hoyer's figure bears out the 

 statement of Oehl (which is quoted by him), viz. " Das Herz gelappt 

 ist," and that of Ranvier (also quoted by him), who observed 

 that each apj)arently single posterior 'lymph-heart was divided 

 by partitions into several divisions. Weliky, however, according 

 to Hoyer, found that each heart " aus 3 gesonderten Abtheilungen 

 besteht : dass also 3 hintere Lympherzen jederseits vorhanden 

 sind." This, of course, agrees precisely Avith the facts Avhich I 

 have detailed in the present paper with regard to Xenopus. At 

 the same time it cannot be disputed that the conditions obtaining 



* Zweite Auflage, Jeiiu, r886. f Zool. Anz. 1884. 



J Bull. Acad. Cracovie, 1904, p. 228. 



