SCIENCE. 
49 
SATURDAY, JULY 31. 1880. 
THE CEREBRAL FISSURES OF THE DOMESTIC 
CAT, Felts domestica. 
BY BURT G. WILDER, M. D. 
The discovery of the electrical excitability of cer- 
tain cerebral convolutions renders more than ever 
desirable some common nomenclature of the folds 
themselves and of the fissures by which they are de- 
fined. For various reasons, some of which were stated 
by me in 1873 (11,219), the fissures should first be 
identified, and their names agreed upon. 
Two notable contributions to fissural homologies 
and terminology have been recently published by 
Julius Krueg. An abstract of the paper on Herbi- 
vora was given by Horsley in Nature for January 
23, 1879. The second paper, upon the fissures of the 
Proboscidea, Hyracoidea, and Carnivora, was pub- 
lished in January of the present year, but did not 
reach the libraries in this country until May. The 
larger part of the paper is devoted to the Carnivora, 
and will prove more useful, practically, than the re- 
mainder. After a general historical sketch Krueg 
discusses the manner of formation of the fissures, 
taking the cat as less subject to variation than the 
dog. He then enumerates the fissures, with brief 
characterizations, under three heads : “ Grenzfurchen, 
Hauptfurchen, Nebenfurchen.” The detailed account 
of the fissures is divided into “ Canidae, Felidae, Hyae- 
nidae und Protelidae, Viverridae, Mustelidae, Procyo- 
nidae, Ursidae, Phocidae und Otaridae.” A separate 
historical sketch is given with each section, and four 
of the five folding plates of excellent outline figures 
are devoted to the carnivoral fissures. 
In fulfillment of a purpose announced in 1873 
(11,229), I h ave nearly ready for publication a some- 
what extended paper upon the Gross Anatomy of the 
Brain of the Domestic Cat. The conclusions which 
I had reached respecting the nature, relations and no- 
menclature of the fissures accord in most respects 
with those of Krueg. In the hope that his paper 
may incite others to take up this branch of compara- 
tive anatomy, I desire, upon the present occasion, to 
point out the improvements which Krueg has made 
upon his predecessors, and at the same time to sug- 
gest some amendments to his views. 
Krueg does not state whether the brain figured by 
him is intended as a type, or is merely selected from 
among the 12 adult brains which he examined. The 
following figures represent what seems to me to be a 
comprehensive type of the fissural pattern of the do- 
mestic cat, based upon at least 200 specimens, mostly 
prepared by myself. 1 
EXPLANATION OF THE FIGURES. 
The figures are enlarged about two diameters. 
Fig. 1, the lateral aspect of the hemisphere and lobus 
1 In the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge, Mass., is a 
series of 42 cats’ brains, more than half of which are young or foetal, 
forming part of a collection to illustrate the Neurology and Embryology 
of Domesticated Animals made by me for the late Professor Agassiz. In 
the anatomical laboratory of Cornell University each student prepares, 
diaws and dissects tw^ or more brains. 
olfactorius ; Fig. 2, the mesial aspect of the same, 
but as if viewed more from the cephalic region so as 
to expose the whole of the strongly curved fissura 
hippocampalis ; hence the figure is somewhat fore- 
shortened. 
The constant fissures are shown as dark lines, the 
inconstant fissures as lighter lines. The f. olfactoria 
could not be shown upon these figures ; it is a shallow 
groove upon the cephalic end of the hemisphere, and 
the lobus olfactorius rests in it. 
The following abbreviations designate fissures : 
Ge. — Genualis ; Ro. — Rostralis ; Pmr. — Postmargi- 
nalis ; Pr. — Postrhinalis ; Per. — Postcruciata ; Lu. — 
Lunata; In. — Intermedia. The name is placed above 
the fissure only in the case of the f. callosalis. 
All of the names designate fissures, excepting the 
following names or abbreviations which refer to parts 
of the brain structure: Fornix ; callosum — the corpus 
callosum ; c. a. — the commissura anterior ; rima — 
“ the great transverse fissure ; ” fimbria — the corpus 
fimbriatum or taenia hippocampi ; fascia dentata ; S. 
— the splenium or caudal end of the callosum ; G. — 
the genu or cephalic end; 1. ol. — the lobus olfactorius ; 
tr. ol. — the tractus olfactorius ; 1. py. — the lobus pyri- 
formis. 
The figures are diagrammatic, especially with refer- 
ence to the structures represented upon the mesial 
surface ; for instance the fornix is shown as a simple 
line. 
