Posterior Division of the Eighth Cranial Nerve in Lacerta vivipara

Abstract

LITTLE information is available in the literature on the innervation of sensory areas in the inferior, or saccular, portion of the inner ear of the lizard. In order adequately to show nervous structure, histological techniques have been used in the past that preclude dealing with the intact animal; usually the brain must be removed, thereby disrupting anatomical relationships. A notable exception is the work of Beccari¹ on embryonic material of Lacerta ; his primary interest, however, was in finding homologies in the central nervous system between reptiles and mammals, and he gives little consideration to the central terminations of fibres from specific sensory areas. Weston^2,3 has speculated on central terminations of sensory fibres in Sphenodon and has discussed structure of vestibular and auditory areas in brains of a number of reptiles.