The polynomials which satisfy linear differential equations of the second order and of the hypergeometric type have been the object of extensive work, and very few properties of them remain now hidden; the student who seeks in that direction a subject for research is compelled to look, not after these functions themselves but after generalisations of them. Among these may be set in first place the polynomials connected with a differential equation of the third order and of the extended hypergeometric type, of which a general theory has been given by Goursat. The number of such polynomials of which properties have been studied in particular is rather small; in fact, Appell's polynomials

and Pincherle's polynomials, arising from the expansions

are, so far as I know, the only well-known ones. To show what can be done in these ways, I shall briefly give the definition and principal properties of some polynomials analogous to Pincherle's and of some allied functions.