The origin of the pituitary body from the roof of the mouth was first described by Rathke .

Rathke was an able and careful critic of the vertebral theory of the skull, but he accepted it in the main.

The succeeding changes have been somewhat differently described by Klliker and Rathke.

In his paper on the development of the fresh-water Isopod, Asellus, Rathke returns to this point.