MORPHOLOGY OF THE VERTEBRATE SKULL 15 
Mek: 
Fig. 12 Developing skull of Sphenodon punctatus. (Howes and Swinnerton, 
Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. 16. p. iv., fig. 4. Lettering modified.) 
The alisphenoid (epipterygoid) has essentially the same topographic relations to the prootic (caps. 
aud.), prootic foramen (V) and parietal (Pa.) as the alisphenoid of Crocodiles, Dinosaurs, Cynodonts 
and mammals. 
Fig. 13 Developing chondrocranium of Sphenodon punctatus. (Howes and 
Swinnerton, Trans. Zool. Soc., vol. 16, pl. III, fig. 8. Lettering modified.) 
From the pterygoquadrate cartilage springs a dorsal branch, the fundament of the epipterygoid, or 
alisphenoid. Its topographic relations with the auditory capsule and with the true orbitosphenoid are 
the same as those of the alisohenoid of Crocodiles and Dinosaurs. 
(Howes and Swinnerton ’01, pl. 3, fig. 4) on either side of the 
skull are vertical rods, which are dorsal processes of the pterygo- 
quadrate cartilage; these vertical rods lie quite outside and below 
the trigeminal roots. The bases of these epipterygoid rods fuse 
