Contributions to the Anatomy of Amiurus (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 311] THE MYOLOGY OF AMIURUS CAT US (L.) GILL. BY J. PLAYFAIR McMUBRICH, M. A. Professor in the Ontario Agricultural College. [Read before the Canadian Institute, April the 6th, 1881, .] The group of the physostomous fishes shows many structural divergences from the common type, and in the osseous and muscular systems this fact is especially noticeable. In no large group do we find the structure identical throughout the various members, but variations occur sometimes in one, sometimes in another particular, according to the natural conditions under which the animal exists. The osseous and muscular systems being so closely related, one would naturally expect to find great modifications of the one accompanied by equal modifications of the other, the extraordinary development of a muscle causing an extraordinary development of the parts to which it is attached, and, vice versa, the modification of a bone for any special purpose being accompanied by a suitable modification of the attached muscles. Vetter1 has given a detailed account of the myology of the head and arches of Cyprinus, Barbus, Esox and Perca; Cuvier2 before him a complete account of the musculature of Perca; and similarly Owen and Stannius.4 In the succeeding pages I propose giving an account of the myology of Amiurus catus, a Siluroid, and comparing it with that of other members of the Physostomi, with the object of showing the coordinate modifications of parts and of deducing probable homo- logies. I may state here that I am indebted to Prof. R. Ramsay- Wright for information regarding the innervation of the various muscles, he having studied this subject, so necessary in discussing homologies, in connection with the nervous system of Amiurus. In connection with the muscles of the head and arches, ...