THE SKULL. 417 



the median plane to form the tip of the beak, 

 while the three processes diverge backwards. 



The ascending or nasal process, which is 

 much the longest of the three, is a long 

 slender bar of bone, which runs backwards 

 and upwards, closely applied to its fellow of 

 the opposite side, and along the inner side 

 of the nasal bone, to the mesethmoid, with 

 which it is connected. The bone is very thin 

 and elastic at its hinder end, so as to allow of 

 a certain amount of movement of the facial 

 on the cranial portion of the skull. 



The outer or maxillary process runs back- 

 wards and slightly outwards, forming part of 

 the margin of the upper jaw. The nasal and 

 maxillary processes of the premaxilla, together 

 with the superior and inferior processes of the 

 nasal bone, surround the large aperture at the 

 side of the beak in which the external narial 

 opening lies. 



The inner or palatine process, the smallest 

 of the three, is a narrow plate of bone which 

 extends horizontally backwards, a short dis- 

 tance from the median plane. It forms part 

 of the roof of the mouth, and is connected 

 behind with the anterior end of the palatine 

 bone. 



iv. The maxilla is a slender rod of bone, lying 

 behind and to the inner side of the maxillary 

 process of the premaxilla, and forming part 

 of the sub-orbital bar. Its anterior end is 

 expanded into a thin horizontal lamina of 

 bone, the maxillo-palatine process, which pro- 

 jects inwards the median plane, lying dorsal 

 to the palatine bone. 



v. The jugal is a very slender rod, which forms the 

 middle portion of the sub-orbital bar. It lies 



