The Reptile Ear / / Ernest Glen Wever.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Archive 1927-1999
• VerfasserIn: Wever, Ernest Glen,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2019]; ©1978
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Legacy Library ; 5348
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (1040 p.)

In this definitive work, Ernest Glen Wever establishes the evolutionary importance of the reptile ear as the origin of the higher type of auditory apparatus shared by man and the mammals. Tracing the development of the auditory receptor in the living reptiles, he examines the use of a variety of mechanisms and principles of action by that receptor. While some of the material in this book has appeared previously in journal articles, most of it is presented here for the first time.Basing this study on his twenty years of research at Princeton's Auditory Research Laboratories, Professor Wever treats in anatomical and functional detail the auditory mechanism in about 250 species and subspecies of reptiles. The anatomical treatment rests on dissections and histological examinations of the ears in serial section, and portrays the relevant features in drawings that represent particular views of reconstructions. The author evaluates the performance of thesse ears electrophysiologically, in terms of the electrical potentials of the cochlea, paying particular attention to problems of the transmission of vibrations inward to the cochlea and the actions there in stimulating the sensory cells.Professor Wever finds that the cochlea emerged independently from the non-auditory labyrinth in three different vertebrate groups: fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. It was among the reptiles, however, that the vertebrate ear took on a more advanced configuration from which it further evolved along separate lineages in the birds and mammals.Ernest Glen Wever is Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Princeton University.Originally published in 1978.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- PART I: INTRODUCTION -- Chapter 1. The Sense of Hearing in Reptiles -- Chapter 2. Methodological Approaches -- Chapter 3. General Anatomy of the Reptilian Ear -- Chapter 4. Sound Transmission to the Cochlea and the Stimulation Process -- PART II. THE LIZARDS ORDER SQUAMATA; SUBORDER LACERTILIA -- Chapter 5. The Classification of the Lizards -- Chapter 6. Sound Conduction in the Lizard Ear -- Chapter 7. Family lguanidae: The Iguanid Lizards -- Chapter 8. Family Agamidae: The Agamid Lizards -- Chapter 9. Family Chamaeleonidae: The Chameleons -- Chapter 10. Anguid Lizards and Their Relatives -- Chapter 11. The Varanidae and Helodermatidae: Monitors and Beaded Lizards -- Chapter 12. Family Teiidae: The Teiid Lizards -- Chapter 13. Family Lacertidae: The Lacertid Lizards -- Chapter 14. Family Gekkonidae: The Geckos -- Chapter 15. Family Pygopodidae: The Flap-footed Lizards -- Chapter 16. Family Gerrhosauridae: The Plated Lizards -- Chapter 17. Family Xantusiidae: The Night Lizards -- Chapter 18. Family Scincidae: The Skinks -- Chapter 19. Family Cordylidae: The Girdle-tailed Lizards -- PART III. THE REMAINING REPTILES SNAKES, AMPHISBAENIANS, SPHENODON, TURTLES, AND CROCODILIANS -- Chapter 20. Suborder Serpentes: The Snakes -- Chapter 21. Suborder Amphisbaenia: The Amphisbaenians -- Chapter 22. Order Rhynchocephalia: Sphenodon punctatus -- Chapter 23. Order Testudines: The Turtles -- Chapter 24. Order Crocodilia: The Crocodiles -- PART IV. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS -- Chapter 25. The Reptilian Ear: Its Biological and Evolutionary Significance -- Appendix A. Abbreviations and Definitions -- Appendix B. Formulas for Histological Solutions -- References -- Index