The term "spongioblastoma polare" is used to designate the group of slowly growing gliomas which are composed predominantly of unipolar and bipolar spongioblasts, and which occur with greatest frequency along or near the central axis of the brain from the medulla and pons posteriorly to the optic chiasm and optic nerves anteriorly. A series of these tumors from various locations was recently described by Bailey and Eisenhardt,1 who discussed the terminology and the rather meager literature on the subject. The thirty-two cases reported by them from Cushing's clinic represent 1.57 per cent of the two thousand and twentythree intracranial tumors in Cushing's collection2 and 3.77 per cent of the eight hundred and sixty-two gliomas. Of the thirty-two tumors, five, or 15 per cent, were from the pons (0.25 per cent of the total number of tumors and 0.59 per cent of the gliomas). In Sachs' collection from this