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The pectoral spines of Synodontis schall (n = 813) were examined for 24 months. Mean length for the right (3.2 cm) and lefl (3.1 cm) pectoral spines were not significantly different lP> 0.05]. However, the male and female pectoral spine lengths were significantly different CP < 0.05). A fractured pectoral spine in one of the specimens was sborter than the other. The fracture which could be deleterious to balancing, feeding and reproductive activities was attributed to an injury rather than to genetíc or epigenetic defects.

This apparatus provides a cheap and remarkably efficient means of producing any desired degree of hyperextension of the dorsolumbar spine and makes easy the application of a plaster-of-paris jacket in dorsal recumbency. It is particularly valuable in the forcible correction of compression fractures of the spine. It is a combination of an ordinary automobile screw-jack with a simple device that I1 described in 1907. Two short pieces of half inch gas pipe, 2 inches long, are brazed vertically to the top of the jack, about an inch apart. Four flat strips of iron measuring ½ by ⅛ by 4 inches are bent at the middle to a right angle and two of them are slipped into each gas pipe (fig. 1). This makes two T shaped supports on which will rest the kyphosis, protected by a thick piece of felt 4 or 5 inches square. The head and shoulders rest