CHONDROCRANIUM OF EUMECES 169 
The connections of the orbitotemporal region with the posterior 
and anterior portions of the skull are rather scanty. Posteriorly 
it is united with the basal plate by means of the trabeculae, and 
with the otic capsules by means of the taeniae marginales (fig. 3, 
t.marg.); anteriorly the interorbital septum is continuous with 
the nasal septum, and the cartilagines sphenoethmoidales (fig. 
1, c.sph-e.) connect the solum supraseptale with the roof of the 
. nasal capsule. : 
For detailed discussion it will be convenient to consider first 
the floor of the entire orbitotemporal region, postponing till 
later the separate consideration of the lateral walls of the two 
subregions. This division of floor and lateral walls is convenient 
but arbitrary; the solum supraseptale, for example, aids con- 
spicuously in the formation of the floor of the brain cavity, 
although belonging primarily to the lateral wall. 
2. Floor of entire orbitotemporal region 
The two trabeculae (fig. 2, trab.) arise from the front edge of 
the basal plate, immediately under the abducens foramina. As 
slender rounded rods they extend forward and inward and meet 
in the middle line of the skull. As seen from the side (largely 
concealed in figure 3 by the processus basipterygoideus, pr.b-pt.), 
the course of the trabeculae is first obliquely downward, then 
obliquely upward, and finally, in the region of their fusion, almost 
horizontal. The upward bend of the middle course is indicated 
by the elongate form of the section of the trabeculae (trab.) as 
seen in figure 22. In conjunction: with the basal plate, the 
trabeculae surround an approximately triangular opening in the 
cranial floor, the fenestra hypophyseos (figs. 1 and 2, fen.hyp.), 
largely occupied by the hypophysis. In the middle line the 
curved anterior margin of the basal plate encroaches somewhat 
upon the fenestra, thus emphasizing its posterolateral angles, 
the incisurae caroticae of Gaupp, through which the internal 
carotid arteries enter the skull. Conditions here are identical 
with those in Lacerta. This course of the carotids is charac- 
teristic of the reptiles in general—snakes (Peyer, ’12), crocodiles 
(Shiino, 714), turtles (Fuchs, 712; Kunkel, ’12b); it is also 
