460 DISSECTION OF THE PIGEON. 



IX. THE SENSE ORGANS 



A. The, Eye. 



1. The eyelids. 



The upper eyelid is only slightly movable : the 

 lower one very freely so. 



The nictitating membrane, or third eyelid, is a 

 fold at the anterior angle of the eye, lying within 

 the other eyelids, between them and the eyeball. It 

 can be pulled obliquely downwards and backwards 

 over the front of the eyeball with great rapidity. 



2. The muscles of the eyeball. 



Open the orbit by removing its dorsal wall with strong 

 scissors, taking care not to damage the nictitating membrane. 



a. The muscles moving the eyeball are essentially the 



same as those of the dog-fish or rabbit. 



Remove the eyeball completely, cutting through the muscles 

 and the optic nerve as far as possible from the eyeball. 



b. The muscles of the nictitating membrane are two 



in number, and he close to the inner or orbital 

 surface of the eyeball. 

 Snip away with scissors the recti and obliqui muscles. 



i. The quadratus, or bursalis muscle, is an oblong 

 sheet of muscle, lying in close contact with the 

 inner surface of the eyeball. Its fibres arise 

 along the dorsal edge of the eyeball and run 

 downwards, ending just above the optic nerve 

 in a free border, which forms a tubular ten- 

 dinous sheath for the tendon of the pyramidalis 

 muscle. 



ii. The pyramidalis is a small muscle somewhat 

 triangular in shape. It arises from the inner 

 surface of the ventral part of the eyeball, 

 below, and a little anterior to, the entrance of 

 the optic nerve. From this origin its fibres 



