THE .MALLEUS OF THE LACERTTLIA, ETC. 585 



a. A capitulum. 



b. A cervix. 



c. A manubrium. 



d. A processus gracilis. 



|3. It has the same connections ; that is to say : 



a. It is applied along the tympanic membrane in such 

 a manner that the manubrium is parallel to the mem- 

 brane. 



b. It is united besides to the remainder of the inter- 

 fenestral chain by means of a cartilage attached to it in 

 the region of the cervix. 



c. It lies in contact with the quadrate in exactly the 

 same manner as that in which the malleus of Mammalia 

 is in contact with the quadrate of M. Albrecht. 



y. It is connected with the articular element of the man- 

 dible by means of a malleo-articular ligament, which M. Albrecht 

 identifies with the extra-mandibular portion of Meckel's carti- 

 lage. 



8. There is little doubt, there appears to me, that this mal- 

 leus is identical with that described by Peters as existing in 

 the crocodile,^ and with the " suprastapedial extrastapedial 

 (manubrium) " of Mr. W. K. Parker.^ 



This being admitted, the first of the naturalists cited has 

 demonstrated the continuity of the malleus with Meckel's 

 cartilage, as in Mammalia,'^ an observation confirmed by the 

 English naturalist. This result, therefore, is in support of 

 the opinion expressed in S. 



£. The malleus of Mammals serves for the insertion of a 

 small muscle (tensor tympani), the origin of which is in the otic 

 region of the cranium. The same occurs in the case of the 

 malleus of Lacertilians."* 



1 W. Peters, ' Monatsberichte d. K. p. Akademie d. Wissenschaften zu 

 Berliu,' 1868, p. 592. 



■ W. K. Parker, 'Phil, Trans. Hoy. Soc.,' London, part, ii, 1879, pi. 43, 

 fig. iii and vi. 



=* W. K. Parker, 'Nature,* July 13th, 1881, p. 253. 



* W. K. Parker, 'Phil. Trans.' (v. supra), fig. vi, st. m. (the so-called 

 " stapedius " of the author). 



