321 



pars facialis to the lachrymal bone the ossiculum is entirely facial in 

 position, and may articulate with the nasal. In the lion — as in Man 

 — the lachrymal bone has lost its extensive facial portion, and, there- 

 fore, the ossicle is cut oif from contact with the nasal and is orbital 

 in position. Though Macalister looks upon the ossicle as a detached 

 part of the maxillary bone, in the lower mammals it appears capable 

 of fusing indifferently with either frontal or lachrymal. No instance 

 is recorded, so far as I am aware, in which it is in process of fusion 

 with the maxilla. In the lion's skull there is no advent of any fusion 

 but one cannot avoid the impression that, had the animal lived, the 

 ossicle would have become united with the lachrymal. Had this oc- 

 curred a normal lachrymal, with nothing whatever to show that it had 

 developed from two separate portions, would have been produced. 



The second unusual arrangement in the skull which is the sub- 

 ject of this communication is in the nasal region. The right nasal 

 bone is divided into two unequal parts by a longitudinal suture which 

 leaves the internasal suture about the junction of its middle and 

 anterior thirds. The bony fragment, separated in this way from the 

 nasal, presents a triangular outline; the base of the triangle being 

 anterior (Fig. 21). The ossicle represents, in form, that mesial part 

 of the normal nasal bone which is curved downwards and inwards. 

 On looking into the nasal chamber as far as is possible in the un- 

 sectioned skull, it is seen that the supernumerary bone extends to 

 about the middle of the lenghth of the nasal, with which its posterior 

 end is fused. 



The left nasal bone is obviously defective (Fig. 2) and presents 

 an appearance which leads one to conclude that on this side of the 

 skull also there was an additional bone, which, however, has been lost 

 in the process of preparation. The inner anterior angle of the nasal 

 is wanting; its place being taken by a wide and fairly deep notch. 

 The margins of the notch are irregular, and there can be little doubt, 

 judging from their character, that they were articular. Assuming, then, 

 that there was originally a separate ossicle on the left as well as on 

 the right side — and all appearances point to the assumption being 

 correct — the left accessory bone differed from the right in being 

 shorter, broader, and without any fusion with the nasal. The ab- 

 normality was symmetrical, therefore, so far as it occurred on both 

 sides of the skull; but unsymmetrical inasmuch as the two super- 

 numerary bones were unequal in size and unlike in form. 



Frassetto (12) has recently (1903) described and figured the 

 nasal bones of a criminal where the right bone is transversely divided, 



Anat. Anz. XXVII. Aufsatze. 21 



