676 TEE ARTERIES. 



artery, remarkable for its enormous calibrt', its descending in front of the lateral lobe of the 

 thyroid gland, and its termination in the median isthmus of that ghmd. 



The terminal branches of the carotid are, as in Solipeds : 1. The occipital. 2. The in- 

 ternal carotid. 3. The external carotid, the continuation of the common cardtid. 



Occipital Artery. — Inconsiderable in volume, this vessel arises in front of the anterior 

 border of the transverse process of tlie atlas, passes into the notch on its border, and divides into 

 two brandies — the occipito-muscular and the cerebrospinal arteries. 



In its course, it gives off braticiies analogous to those which emanate from the prevertebral 

 artery of tlie Horse. It also gives a mastoid artery, which only sends one very small branch 

 into the paricto-temporal canal, and is destined almost exclusively to the deep muscles of the 

 neck. In aildition, the occipital throws off a retrograde artery, which directly joins the vertebral. 



The arrangement of the occipital artery in Oarnivora is, therefore, almost identical with 

 what has been described in Solipeds. 



Internal Carotid Artery. — This vessel reaches the posterior opening of the carotid 

 canal, along which it passes forward, then describes a very curious flexure which leaves the 

 cranium by the carotid foramen (see p. 59), theu re-enters that cavity after receiving a 

 particular branch from the external carotid. It afterwards anastomoses on the side of the 

 pituitary fossa, with the divisions of the spheno-spinous artery and the returning briinches of 

 the ophtiialmic artery, forming a kind of plexus which appears to be a trace of the rtte mirabile 

 of Ruminants and Pachyderms, and from which proceed tlie cerebral arteries. 



External Carotid Artery. — This arterial branch terminates, as in Solipeds, by the 

 superficial temporal and the internal maxillary arteries. 



It gives off on its course : 1. An artery representing the meningeal branch of the pre- 

 vertebral of the Horse, and which ascends in a flexuous manner on the side of the pharynx to 

 join the carotid flexure. 



2. A laryngeal artery, entering the larynx with the superior nerve of that organ, after 

 giving ramuscules to the maxillary gland. 



3. The lingual artery, a vt ry large tortuous branch, the course of which resembles that of 

 the same vessel in the Horse. 



4. A facial or external maxillary artery, divided into two branches above the inferior inser- 

 tion of the digastricus. One of these branches — analogous perhaps to the submental of Man- 

 passes within this insertion, and is prolonged to the chin, after furnishing ramuscules to the 

 parts lodged in the intermaxillary space. The other branch winds round the inferior border of 

 the maxilla, in front of the masseter muscle, and is expended on the face by ascending and 

 descending branches, among which we can readily perceive the two coronary arteries, and the 

 two twigs which we have noticed in Solipeds as terminal branches of the vessel. 



.5. The posterior auricular artery, after detaching parotideal and musculo-cutaneous vessels, 

 is situated on the middle of the external face of tlie concha, and is directed towards the terminal 

 extremity of the cartilage, where it separates into two branches, which are inflected en arcade^ 

 and return, in following the borders of the concha, towards the base of the latter, where they 

 anastomose with other branches, either from the posterior or anterior auricular, and which 

 come to meet them. 



Superficial temporal artery. — After a brief course behind the tempore i-maxillary articulation, 

 this vessel bifurcates : its posterior or auricular branch anastomosing with a division of the 

 posterior auricular, but not before it has sent ramuscules to the interior of the concha, and 

 furnished some uiusculo-cutaueous twigs. The other, the anterior or temporal branch, glides 

 beneath the aponeurosis of the temporal muscle, above the upper margin of the zygomatic arch, 

 and winds upwards and inwards around the outline of the orbit, to terminate on the face by 

 anastomosing ramuscules, either with the infra-orbital branch of the superior dental artery, or 

 with the facial. In its sub-epoueurotic course, it gives divisions to the temporal muscle. 

 Above the orbital arch, it emits several superficial ascending and internal twigs, one of the 

 principal of which communicates by ramuscules with the posterior auricular artery, the 

 auricular branch of the superficial temporal, and with the homologous ramuscules from the 

 opposite side. 



Internal maxillary artery. — The course pursued by this vessel is similar to that which it follows 

 in the Horse. After describing an S curvature between the condyle of the maxillary bone and 

 external pterygoid muscle, it traverses the subsphenoidal canal, and passes outside the internal 

 pterygoid towards the maxillary hiatus, where it is continued by the superior dental artery. 



a. The following are the principal collateral branches emitted by this vessel : 



1. The inferior dental artery. 



2. The deep posterior temporal artery, which furnishes a masseteric branch that traverses the 

 sigmoid notch in the maxillarv bone, to enter the masseter muscle. 



