The CARTILAGINOUS GANOIDS[42] _Acipenser_, _Polyodon_ and _Scaphirhynchus_ are the simplest fishes as regards their spinal column. The notochord remains permanently unconstricted and is enclosed in a chordal sheath, external to which is the skeletogenous layer. In this layer the development of cartilaginous elements has taken place. In connection with each _neuromere_, or segment as determined by the points of exit of the spinal nerves, there are developed two pairs of ventral cartilages, the ventral arches (basiventralia) and intercalary pieces (interventralia); and at least two pairs of dorsal pieces, the neural arches (basidorsalia) and intercalary pieces (interdorsalia). The lateral parts of the skeletogenous layer do not become converted into cartilage, so there are no traces of vertebral centra. The ventral or haemal arches meet one another ventrally and send out processes to protect the ventral vessels. The neural arches do not meet, but are united by a longitudinal elastic band. In Cartilaginous ganoids the only indications of metameric segmentation are found in the neural and haemal arches. The case is somewhat similar with the Holocephali and Dipnoi. In the HOLOCEPHALI the notochord grows persistently throughout life, and is of uniform diameter throughout the whole body except in the cervical region and in the gradually tapering tail. The chordal sheath is very thick and includes a well-marked zone of calcification which separates an outer zone of hyaline cartilage from an inner zone. There are also a number of cartilaginous pieces derived from the skeletogenous layer which are arranged in two series, a dorsal series forming the neural arches and a ventral series forming the haemal arches. These do not, except in the cervical region, meet one another laterally round the notochord and form centra. To each neuromere there occur a pair of basidorsals, a pair of interdorsals, and one or two supradorsals. In the tail the arrangement is irregular. In the DIPNOI as in the Holocephali the notochord grows persistently and uniformly, and the chordal sheath is thick and cartilaginous though there are no metamerically arranged centra. The neural and haemal arches and spines are cartilaginous and interbasalia (intercalary pieces) are present. The basidorsalia and basiventralia do not in _Ceratodus_ meet round the notochord and enclose it except in the anterior part of the cervical and posterior part of the caudal region. In ELASMOBRANCHII the chordal sheath is weak and the skeletogenous layer strong. Biconcave cartilaginous vertebrae are developed, and as is the case in most fishes, constrict the notochord _vertebrally_. Two distinct types of vertebral column can be distinguished in Elasmobranchs[43]: 1. In many extinct forms and in the living Notidanidae, _Cestracion_, and _Squatina_, the dorsal and ventral arches do not meet one another laterally round the centrum, and consequently readily come away from it.