COURSE OF THE INGEST A. 89 



the skull, and there it has in front of it the posterior nares, 

 or apertures of the nasal cavities, which are continued back 

 from the nostrils, separated one from the other by a septum. 

 At the sides of the posterior nares aie the Eustachian tubes 

 leading back to the ears. Below the soft palate, in series 

 from above downwards, are the arch of the fauces, the 

 glottis, or opening into the windpipe, and the oesophagus, 

 which is the continuation downwards of the pharynx, but, 

 unlike it, is a complete tube with strong circular and longi- 

 tudinal muscular fibres round it. 



Fig. 40. BUCCAL CAVITY AND PHARYNX, vertical section, a, tongue, 

 b, nasal or upper division of pharynx, and to the front of it the 

 orifice of the Eustachian tube; c, inferior division of pharynx; 

 (Z, tonsil with the anterior and posterior pillars of the fauces in 

 front and behind it; e, orifice of duct of parotid gland; /, the 

 top of the larynx, with the epiglottis in front of it; g, oesopha- 

 gus; h, section of hard palate; s, of soft palate and uvula. 



Loosely connected with the skull by ligament and muscle, 

 is a slender U-shaped bone, the hyoid, which can be felt with 

 the finder at the fold between the neck and the chin. Sus- 



