THE COMMON CAROTID ARTERIES. 675 



fossa. The latter branch sometimes comes directly from the internal maxillary 

 artery. 



9. Staphyline Artery (Fig. 381, 38).— A very thin filament, which accom- 

 panies the staphyline nerve in the groove of the same name, and is distributed 

 to the soft palate. 



10. Superior Dental Artery (Fig. 381, 39).— This vessel— which is also 

 named the supermaxillo-dental artery — enters the superior dental canal, arrives 

 near its inferior or infra-orbital opening, and then divides into two thin branches. 

 One of these continues in the same course in the supermaxillary bone, to supply 

 arterial blood to the alveoli of the foremost molars, the tusk, and the incisor 

 teeth ; the other {infra-orbital branch) passes out of the canal with the terminal 

 divisions of the superior maxillary nerve, and communicates on the forehead 

 with a ramuscule from the external maxillary artery. 



On its way, the superior dental artery emits several collateral branches, the 

 majority of which commence in the interior of the dental canal, and pass either 

 to the alveoli of the posterior molars, the tissue of the bone, or the membrane 

 lining the sinuses. One of these branches — the orbital, and the largest — escapes 

 from the principal artery before its entrance to the superior dental canal, creeps 

 along the floor of the orbit towards the nasal angle of the eye, whence it descends 

 on the forehead, after giving off some divisions to the caruncle of the eye, the 

 lachrymal sac, and the lower eyelid. 



11. Nasal or Spheno-palatine Artery.— Situated, at first, at the bottom 

 of the maxillary hiatus, this artery, springing at a right angle from the parent 

 trunk, traverses the spheno-palatine foramen, and divides into two terminal 

 branches — an external and an internal — in ramifying on the walls of the nasal 

 cavity. 



Terminal Beanch of the Internal Maxillary Artery. Palato- 

 Labial or Palatine Artery (Fig. 215, 3).— A continuation of the internal 

 maxillary, this vessel at first traverses the palatine foramen, follows the palatine 

 groove to near the superior incisors, is then inflected inwards above a small 

 cartilaginous process (Fig. 215, 4), and vmites on the middle hne with the artery 

 of the opposite side, forming an arch with its convexity forwards, from which 

 proceeds a single trunk that passes into the incisive foramen. 



The palatine arteries, in their advance, furnish a series of branches to the 

 anterior part of the soft palate, the membranes on the roof of the mouth, and 

 the gums and upper teeth. 



The single trunk resulting from their anastomoses is placed, immediately 

 after its exit from the incisive foramen, directly beneath the buccal mucous 

 membrane, and at once divides into two principal branches — a right and left ; 

 these are lodged in the tissue of the upper lip, and pass back to meet the coronary 

 arteries, with which they anastomose by inosculation, after throwing off on their 

 track a great number of branches to the muscles and integuments of the lip and 

 nostrils. 



Differential Characters in the Carotid Arteries of the other Animals. 

 1. The Carotid Arteries in Carnivora. 



In the Dog, the carotids arise singly frona the axillary artery, and ascend beneath the 

 transverse process of the atlas, along the trachea, following a course exactly like that pursued 

 by these vessels in the Horse. 



Among the collatt ral branches furnished by them, maybe distinguished the thyro-laryngeal 



