Probably the observations which lead to the supposition that it was the throat which was pinched off to form the pituitary body were made after the opening between the mouth and throat was completed, when it would naturally be impossible to tell whether the pinching off was from the epiblast of the mouth involution or the hypoblast of the throat.
The Cranial Nerves.
The cranial nerves in their early condition are so clearly visible that I have thought it worth while giving a figure of them, and calling attention to some points about their embryonic peculiarities.
From my figure (14) it will be seen that there is behind the auditory vesicle a nervous tract, from which four nerves descend, and that each of these nerves is distributed to the front portion of a visceral arch. When the next and last arch (in this species) is developed, a branch from this nervous mass will also pass down to it. That each of these is of an equal morphological value can hardly be doubted.
The nerve to the third arch becomes the glosso-pharyngeal (fig. 14, gl), the nerves to the other arches become the branchial branches of the vagus nerve (fig. 14, vg). Thus the study of their development strongly supports Gegenbaur's view of the nature of the vagus and glosso-pharyngeal, viz. that the vagus is a compound nerve, each component part of it which goes to an arch being equivalent to one nerve, such as the glosso-pharyngeal.
Of the nerves in front of the auditory sac the posterior is the seventh nerve (fig. 14, VII). Its mode of distribution to the second arch leaves hardly a doubt that it is equivalent to one such nerve as those distributed to the posterior arches. Subsequently it acquires another branch, passing forwards towards the arch in front.
The most anterior nerve is the fifth (fig. 14, V), of which two branches are at this stage developed. The natural interpretation of its present condition is, that it is equivalent to two nerves, but the absence of relation in its branches to any visceral clefts renders it more difficult to determine the morphology of the fifth nerve than of the other nerves. The front branch of the two is the ophthalmic branch of the adult, and the hind branch the inferior maxillary branch. The latter branch subsequently gives off low down, i.e. near its distal extremity, another branch, the superior maxillary branch.
In its embryonic condition this latter branch does not appear like a third branch of the fifth, equivalent to the seventh or the glosso-pharyngeal nerves, but rather resembles the branch of the seventh nerve which passes to the arch in front, which also is present in all the other cranial nerves.
Modes of Preparation.
Before concluding I will say one or two words as to my modes of preparation.