64 OSTEOLOGY. 



tlie termination of one part of the dental canal which transmits 

 the inferior dental artery and inferior dental division of the 

 fifth pair of nerves. 



OS HYOIDES. 

 (Fig. 15.) 



This is a bone which supports the tongue, the pharynx, and 

 the larynx, and is suspended downwards and foiAvards between 

 the rami of the lower jaw ; it has a fibro-cartilaginous attach- 

 ment to the hyoid process of the temporal bone. The hyoid 

 series is composed of five distinct pieces — a body, or hyoid-bona 

 proper, two cornua or horns, and two cornicula or lesser horns. 

 The body bears a striking resemblance to a spur or two-pronged 



Fig. 15. 



Left'aspect of the hyoid series of bones, a. Proximal 

 end of left cornu : 6, Distal end of right cornu ; c, Proxi- 

 mal end of comiculum ; d, Hyoid bone. The left heel- 

 process points downwards and backwards, the spur process 

 in the opposite direction. 



fork, presenting two lateral or heel processes, the thyro-hyals^ 

 directed backwards and downwards, their free extremities articu- 

 lating with tbe thyroid cartilage of the larynx. The two convex 

 articular facets, where these processes join the body, are for the 

 cornicula. Springing from the middle portion, anteriorly, is a 

 long, sharpened process, the glossohyal or spur process, which is 

 buried in the substance of the tongue. 



The cornicula, or cerato-hyals, are two short cylindrical pieces, 

 articulating at the inferior extremity with the body, and at the 

 superior with the cornua. 



The cornua, or stylo-hyals, are long, thin, flattened bones, which 

 extend obliquely backwards and upwards. The anterior extremity 

 of each cornu presents an articulation for the corresponding corni- 



