182 



CHARLES R. STOCKARD AND A. L. JOHNSON 



THE RELATION OF THE BONY PALATE TO THE SKULL BASE AND 

 TO THE SlZE OF THE PALATAL PROCESS OF THE PALATE BONE 



The proportional percentage of hard palate (pi. 35, fig. 2, 

 E-G) to total skull base (pi. 35, fig. 2, D-G) ranges from 60 

 down to 48 per cent (text-fig. 32). These percentages, arranged 

 in sequence from largest to smallest palatal proportion, give 

 a very gentle and regular slope. 



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 So 



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Text-figure 32. Sequence I. Proportional percentage of hard palate to total 

 skull base. Group of seventy skulls arranged in sequence from largest to smallest, 

 percentage. 



As is well known, the anterior region of the bony palate 

 is composed of the palatal processes of the maxillae, and the 

 posterior region is composed of the palatal processes of the 

 palatal bones. These two components do not always consti- 

 tute the same relative amount of the total palate of the dog 

 skull. The proportional percentage of length of palatal proc- 

 esses to total length of palate is shown in text-figure 33, and 

 the curve offered by this chart is very irregular and of an 

 almost opposite inclination to that in text-figure 32. The 

 dissimilarity between the two charts indicates that in many 

 specimens in which the total palate forms a large fraction 



