Vaillant was inclined to take a different view, but with considerable diffidence, owing to his inability actually to trace an open duct. I believe Günther to be right on this point, as well as in his account of the suspension of the pectoral arch in Notacanthus, which I have been able to verify. Besides, Mr. W. S. Rowntree, who has great experience in these matters, has kindly examined at my request a well-preserved example of Halosauropsis macrochir, and informs me that "the air-bladder passes anteriorly into a tapering band of tissue which ends in a thread-like ligament attached to the stomach near its posterior end and in the mid-dorsal line—not to the oesophagus; no trace of an open communication could be found."

[697]

Fauna u. Flora d. Golf. v. Neap. ii. 1880.

[698]

Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci. xlv. 1902, p. 503.

[699]

Ann. Sci. Nat. (8), xiv. 1902, p. 197.

[700]

Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) x. 1902, p. 147.

[701]