The comparison of the larval brain with that of the adult again appears to us to leave no doubt that the vesicle attached to the roof of the thalamencephalon in the adult is the same structure as the bilobed outgrowth of this roof in the larva; and since there is in addition a well-developed pineal gland in the larva with the usual relations, there can be no ground for identifying the vesicle in the adult with the pineal gland.
Müller, in his often quoted memoir (No. 13), states that the brains of Ganoids are peculiar and distinct from those both of Teleostei and Elasmobranchii; but in addition to pointing out that the optic nerves form a chiasma he does not particularly mention the features, to which he alludes in general terms. More recently Wilder (No. 15) has returned to this subject; and though, as we have already had occasion to point out, we cannot accept all his identifications of the parts of the Ganoid brain, yet he has called attention to certain characteristic features of the cerebrum which have an undoubted systematic value.
The distinctive characters of the Ganoid brain are, in our opinion, (1) the great elongation of the region of the thalamencephalon; and (2) the unpaired condition of the posterior part of the cerebrum, and the presence of so thin a roof to the ventricle of this part as to cause it to appear open above.
The immense length of the region of the thalamencephalon is a feature in the Ganoid brain which must at once strike any one who examines figures of the brains of Chondrostei, Polypterus, or Amia. It is less striking in the adult Lepidosteus, though here also we have shewn that the thalamencephalon is really very greatly developed; but in the larva of Lepidosteus this feature is still better marked, so that the brain of the larva may be described as being more characteristically Ganoid than that of the adult.
The presence of a largely developed thalamencephalon at once distinguishes a Ganoid brain from that of a Teleostean Fish, in which the optic thalami are very much reduced; but Lepidosteus shews its Teleostean affinities by a commencing reduction of this part of the brain.
The large size of the thalamencephalon is also characteristic of the Ganoid brain in comparison with the brain of the Dipnoi; but is not however so very much more marked in the Ganoids than it is in some Elasmobranchii.
On the whole, we may consider the retention of a large thalamencephalon as a primitive character.
The second feature which we have given as characteristic of the Ganoid brain is essentially that which has been insisted upon by Wilder, though somewhat differently expressed by him.
The simplest condition of the cerebrum is that found in the larva of Lepidosteus, where there is an anterior pair of lobes, and an undivided posterior portion with a simple prolongation of the third ventricle, and a very thin roof. The dorsal edges of the posterior portion, adjoining the thin roof, usually become somewhat everted (cf. Wilder), and in Lepidosteus these edges have in the adult a very great development, and form (vide Plate 38, fig. 47A-C, ce´.) two prominent lobes, which we have spoken of as the posterior cerebral lobes.
These characters of the cerebrum are perhaps even more distinctive than those of the thalamencephalon.