676 TUE ARTERIES. 



artery, remarkable for its enormous calibre, its descending in front of the lateral Inb^- of the 

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



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

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



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

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

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



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

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

 into the parieto-temporal canal, and is destined almo.->t exclusively to the deep muscles of the 

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



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

 what has been described in Sulipeds. 



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), then re-enters that cavity after receiving a 

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

 pituitury fossa, with the divisions of the .spheno-spinous arti-ry and the returning branches of 

 the ophtlialmic artery, forming a kind of plexus which appears to be a trace of the rete mtrabile 

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



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

 tuperficial 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 tlie 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 very 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 submeiit(d 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 

 tlie 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 teriuiual branches of the vessel. 



.5. The posterior auricular artery, a.iter dfetaching parotideal and musculo-cutaneous vessels, 

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

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

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

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

 come to meet them. 



Superficial temporal artery. — After a brief course behind the temporo-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 musculo-cutaneous twigs. The other, the anterior or temporal branch, glides 

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

 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-eponeurotic course, it gives divisions to the temporal muscle. 

 Above the orbital arch, it emits several superficial ascending and internal twig.s one of the 

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

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

 opposite side. 



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

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

 exteinul 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 denial artery. 



2. Tile deep posterior temporal artery, which furnishes a masseteric l>ranch that traverses the 

 sigmo'd notcli in the miixiihiry bone, to enter the masseter muscle. 



