496 



HUMAN ANATOMY. 



covering its outer surface, passes between the middle and superior constrictors of the 

 pharynx, and, being joined by fibres from the palato-pharyngeus, is inserted into 

 the posterior border of the thyroid cartilage and the posterior wall of the pharynx. 



Nerve -Supply. — By a branch of the glosso-pharyngeal nerve. 



Action. — To draw upward the posterior wall of the pharynx and the thyroid 

 cartilage. 



2. Levator Palati (Fig. 509). 



Attachments. — The elevator of the soft palate (m. levator veli palatini) arises, 

 from the under surface of the apex of the petrous portion of the temporal bone and 

 from the cartilaginous portion of the Eustachian tube. It descends obliquely down- 



FiG. 509. 



Nasal septum 



Eustachian tube 



Salpingo- i / 

 pharyngeus — * — '- 



Levator palati 



Superior- 

 constrictor 



Palato-pharyngeus- 



External 

 pterygoid 



Levator palati 



Tensor palati 



ly r f 



■80^ -^v^-?^ // ' Internal 



'' fi^^  i if^-- / pterygoid 



£g??SjV -r — IM,':7 . / Hamular process 



'"■• / Tensor palati 



zygos uvulae 



Posterior surface of tongue 



Palato-pharyngeus 

 Stylo-pharyngeus 



Superior orifice of larynx 



Posterior crico-arytenoid 



Muscles of palate and pharynx, seen from behind ; pharynx laid open. 



ward and forward, and, broadening out, enters the substance of the soft palate, into 

 the aponeurosis of which it is inserted. 



Nerve-Supply. — From the pharyngeal plexus by fibres which probably have 

 their origin in the anterior part of the nucleus of the spinal accessory nerve. 



Action. — To elevate the soft palate. 



3. AzYGOS UvuL^ (Fig. 509). 



Attachments. — The azygos uvulae (m. uvulae), so named on the supposition 

 that it was an unpaired muscle, consists of two narrow slips which arise from the 



