THE ALIMENTARY CANAL OF A CARBONIFER- 

 OUS SALAMANDER 



DR. ROY L. MOODIE 

 The University op Kansas 



Investigators, during the progress of their research 

 into the anatomy of extinct animals, have the good for- 

 tune, from time to time, to be able to add items of inter- 

 est to the soft anatomy of the forms which they are 

 studying. In the nature of the case the soft parts are 

 very rarely preserved and when they are represented it 

 is usually an imperfect record. Occasionally, however, 

 the rocks yield forms which afford very complete knowl- 

 edge of the soft anatomy of the animal. This has been 

 strikingly shown in Dr. Dean's studies on the fossil 

 sharks of the Cleveland shales of Ohio. Dr. Eastman 

 and Dr. Parker have also studied and described the soft 

 parts of the head, especially, of a peculiar little fish from 

 the Waverly shales of Kentucky which Dr. Eastman has 

 named Rhadinichthys deani. In this species, which is 

 represented by an abundance of material, there are 

 clearly preserved the various portions of the intern 

 ear, the outlines of the lobes of the brain and traces 

 an arterial blood vessel with some of its branches. The 

 are many other instances in which the soft anatomy o 

 fossil fishes has been developed. Many of these are 



8 Among the higher vertebrates the softer structures 

 are not so well known. The outlines of various branchio- 

 saurians are known from the studies of Fritsch, Credner, 

 von Ammon, von Meyer and Thevenin, who have de- 

 scribed these forms from the Permian and Carboniferous 

 of France, Bohemia and Germany. Cope has dwelt at 

 some length upon the preservation of the shape and 

 some of the coloring matter of the eye of the reptile- 



