82 EVOLUTION AND DISEASE 
Those occurring in the lower part of the neck end 
blindly. The usual situations of the four branchial slits 
are indicated in fig. 39. 
Sometimes we find in the situations frequented by 
these fistulae instead of openings small rounded white 
FIG. 39.—A side view of the neck; the figures IJ, III 
and IV indicate the common situations of branchial 
fistulae. 
patches of skin, natural cicatrices, indicating the points of 
obliteration of the clefts. It is by no means infrequent 
to find the cutaneous orifice of a persistent branchial slit 
surmounted by a cutaneous tag, which often contains a 
small nodule of yellow elastic cartilage resembling that 
found in the pinna; these projecting pieces of skin often: 
