l88 NERVE COMPONENTS OF BONY FISHES. 



VII, together with communis fibres from the geniculate 

 ganglion. 



After its separation from the middle division it pursues 

 its course parallel to the latter and dorsally of it in the floor 

 of the orbit for a considerable distance without giving off 

 any branches. 



The coarse fibres lie on the lateral side of the nerve and 

 comprise about two-thirds of the area of its cross-section. 

 Its first branch (the i8th infra-orbital of my enumeration, 

 io. 1 8) is given off at 325. It contains only coarse fibres 

 and curves around the dorsal and lateral sides of the m. 

 adductor mandibulas to supply the 6th organ of the infra- 

 orbital line, and under the skin is crossed externally by a 

 general cutaneous twig from the ventral division. The 

 two nerves are in contact, but do not anastomose. 



Immediately after giving off this branch, the dorsal 

 division divides into two unequal portions, each contain- 

 ing both coarse and fine fibres. In the larger mesal por- 

 tion the fine fibres are on the ventral side, though very 

 coarse fibres are mingled among them; in the lateral por- 

 tion the fine and medium fibres gather on the lateral side 

 and very soon separate from the coarse ones {io. ip). 

 These separated fine fibres distribute to the skin under 

 the eye and about the open end of the lachrymal segment 

 of the infra-orbital canal. The coarse fibres of the lateral 

 portion {to. 20) supply the second, third, fourth and fifth 

 canal organs of the infra-orbital line and thus belong to 

 the r. buccalis. 



The larger mesal portion of the dorsal division while in 

 the floor of the orbit separates into mesal and lateral 

 rami. The latter contains all of the fine fibres with a few 

 very coarse ones scattered among them in the way so 

 characteristic of general cutaneous nerves, and this is the 



