ANATOMY OF THE SALIVARY GLANDS IN THE CARNIVORA 165 



in size caudad; their ducts open upon the stomal ridge (Fig. 2, 

 70-/ j), their bodies united by a common connective tissue investment 

 form a small mass, which is embedded in the delicate fat between the 

 periorbita and the oral mucous membrane. Pyramidal in shape, its 

 axis obliquely mesocaudal in direction, it presents its ventral side 

 to the oral mucosa in the lateral area of the triangle bounded by the 

 ma.Killa, the masseter, and the internal pterygoid muscles (Fig. 2, 46). 

 Its lateral surface is appHed to the masseter, a Httle fat intervening, 

 while dorsally and mesally it is in contact only with the suborbital 

 fat. Its base, turned craniad and slightly laterad, is crossed by the deep 

 facial vein. It has a length of about 1.4 centimeters and at its base a 

 vertical diameter of i centimeter, and a transverse of about one-third 

 as much. The three cranial members of the series are distinguished 

 by their larger size and longer ducts. These pierce the buccinator, 

 and, turning nearly at right angles craniad and laterad, are contin- 

 ued in the mucosa of the stomal ridge to their respective orifices, the 

 first behind the last cusp of the upper carnassial, the third close to the 

 deep facial vein, the second midway between (Fig. 2, 10, 11, 12). 

 In this course the duct of the first is ectal, of the second intermediate, 

 of the third ental in position. The duct of the first bifurcates before 

 entering its gland, in which two lobes are easily recognized. The dis- 

 parity in size between the first and second orbitals is not extreme in 

 the cat, the whole series gradually diminishing from first to last. The 

 caudal members are small, and their ducts pass directly or at most with 

 moderate obhquity through the scattered fibers of the buccinator to 

 open along the margin of the trigone close to the masseter. 



This muscle then forms the boundary between the orbital and parotid 

 glands, in reference to which the orbitoparotid occupies an inter- 

 mediate position at the cranial border of the muscle. The conditions 

 obtaining in the adult, as well as in the embryo, point to the interpre- 

 tation of these several glands as members of a series interrupted by the 

 masseter, the appro.ximation of which to the oral mucosa tends to 

 retard, though not always to suppress, the formation of sprouts at the 

 point of contact and determines an ectomasseteric path for the cranial, 

 an entomasseteric for the caudal members of the series. 



The glands of the stomal ridge are hardly of macroscopic size ; 

 their orifices may be seen with a lens irregularly scattered along 



