46 Messrs. Embleton and Atthey on the 



tooth. Depressions of the same character existing along the 

 alveolar border of the maxillae were next, in several instances, 

 similarly examined in section, and with the same result ; the 

 remains of a tooth existed in each. These depressions, there- 

 fore, instead of lodging the teeth of the other jaw during closure 

 of the mouth, are the vestiges of former alveoli from which 

 old teeth have been shed. Besides, it can be shown that. the 

 teeth of the mandible are not received into these depressions 

 when the mouth is closed ; for the upper jaw, forming the 

 larger arch, must, when the mouth is shut, enclose the corre- 

 sponding part of the mandible ; moreover the teeth of the 

 mandible, when the mouth is closed, do not otherwise corre- 

 spond to the depressions of the maxilla. 



The median suture between the premaxillaries is distinct, 

 and is thence continued backward, first between the vomerine 

 palate-plates and then between those of the palate-bones and 

 the pterygoids as far as the posterior border of these last. 



At the posterior border of the premaxillaries this suture is 

 crossed by a transverse one, uniting these bones with the 

 vomerine plates. The latter suture is projected forwards on 

 the median line by a rounded prominence of the vomers ; from 

 this on each side it curves forward and outward and then back- 

 ward, thus surrounding a considerable part of the base of the 

 vomerine tusk, from which it is distant only about an eighth 

 of an inch. It terminates at the borders of the jaw, uniting at 

 that part the contiguous ends of the premaxillaries and of 

 the alveolar borders of the maxillaries. 



The vomers, immediately behind the premaxillaries, stretch 

 almost entirely across the palate, and are separated from the 

 border of the jaw only by a narrow strip of the maxillary 

 alveolar border ; their external anterior angles have the large 

 tusks, hence called vomerine, implanted in them : behind each 

 of these is a large depression, each a little larger than the base 

 of the tusk, and resembling those of the premaxillary inter- 

 dental spaces ; and further back there is an aperture on each 

 side in the jaw, presently to be noticed. 



The outer borders of the vomers are next directed backwards 

 and inwards for about 1^ inch ; thence they run abruptly in- 

 wards and forwards, converging to the median line of the 

 palate. The angles they thus form together are inserted be- 

 tween the palate-bones on the inner and the maxillaries on 

 the outer sides. 



The vomerine tusks present a clean fracture of circular out- 

 line, with a diameter of -fa by -fa inch. 



The apertures above noticed in the jaw are obscure ; they 

 do not pass through the jaw to its upper surface, but 



