_pr._ posterior nerve-rudiment. _ar._ anterior nerve-rudiment. _sp.c._ spinal cord. _n.c._ neural canal. _mp._ muscle-plate. _mp´._ first-formed muscles.
Fig. L. Longitudinal and vertical section through the trunk of a _Scyllium_-embryo after the external gills have attained their full development. Camera. (Zeiss CC ocul. 1.)
The embryo was hardened in a mixture of chromic acid and osmic acid.
The section shews the commissures which dorsally unite the posterior roots, and also the junction of the anterior and posterior roots. The commissures are unfortunately not represented in the figure with great accuracy; their outlines are in nature perfectly regular, and not, as in the figure, notched at the junctions of the cells composing them. Their cells are apparently more or less completely fused, and certainly not nearly so clearly marked as in the figure. The commissures stain very deeply with the mixture of osmic and chromic acid, and form one of the most conspicuous features in successful longitudinal sections of embryos so hardened. In sections hardened with chromic acid only they cannot be seen with the same facility.
_sp.c._ spinal cord. _gr._ grey matter. _w._ white matter. _ar._ anterior root. _pr._ posterior root. _x._ commissure uniting the posterior roots.
Figs. M I, M II. Two sections through the head of the same embryo as fig. B. M I, the foremost of the two, passes through the anterior part of the thickening of epiblast, which becomes involuted as the auditory vesicle. It contains the rudiment of the seventh nerve, VII. Camera. (Zeiss CC ocul. 2.)
VII. rudiment of seventh nerve. _au._ thickening of external epiblast, which becomes involuted as the auditory vesicle. _n.c._ neural canal. _ch._ notochord. _pp._ body-cavity in the head. _so._ somatopleure. _sp._ splanchnopleure. _al._ throat exhibiting an outgrowth to form the first visceral cleft.
IX. ON THE SPINAL NERVES OF AMPHIOXUS[61].
Footnote 61: From the _Journal of Anatomy and Physiology_, Vol. X. 1876.
During a short visit to Naples in January last, I was enabled, through the kindness of Dr Dohrn, to make some observations on the spinal nerves of Amphioxus. These were commenced solely with the view of confirming the statements of Stieda on the anatomy of the spinal nerves, which, if correct, appeared to me to be of interest in connection with the observations I had made that, in Elasmobranchii, the anterior and posterior roots arise alternately and not in the same vertical plane. I have been led to conclusions on many points entirely opposed to those of Stieda, but, before recording these, I shall proceed briefly to state his results, and to examine how far they have been corroborated by subsequent observers.