THE FACE 



HUMAN HYOID. 



401 



FIG. 317. 



The hyoid apparatus is so far reduced in man (Fig. 317) that it 

 comprises a single median transverse bone, the body, or basi-hyal, 

 and four smaller processes, two on each side, 

 namely, the small cornua, or cerato-hyals, and the 

 great cornua, or thyro-hyals ; the five pieces are 

 suspended from the skull by two lateral liga- 

 ments, are joined to the cartilages of the larynx, 

 and receive the insertions of many muscles. 



The body presents a convex anterior surface, 

 which is divided by a ridge into superior and 

 inferior parts. The ridge sometimes exhibits a strong median tubercle. 

 The posterior surface is deeply concave. 



The great cornua project upward and backward ; each cornu 

 terminates in a rounded tubercle. 



The small cornua are attached in the sutures between the body and 

 the greater cornua. From their tips the stylo-hyoid ligaments proceed 

 upward to the styloid processes of the temporal bones ; these processes 

 contain the tympauo-hyal and stylo-hyal elements. 



THE HYOID BONE. 



1, body ; 2, great cornu ; 3, 

 small cornu. 



26 



