128 THE ANTERIOR CRANIAL NERVES 



VII continue forward along the side of the brain, until they 

 enlarge into a ganglion, the Gasserian oval as viewed 

 from above, situated proximally within and distally with- 

 out the cranial walls. The facial nerve arises as two 

 branches, one lateral, the other ventral, near the mid- 

 dle of this ganglion. The former of these (coms.g.) 

 forms the commissure between the facial nerve and the 

 glossopharyngeal. Its course is at first outward, then it 

 curves backward in an horizontal plane until it joins the 

 glossopharyngeal nerve directly opposite the origin of the 

 V, VII and VIII from the brain. Its further course is that 

 of the glossopharyngeal. The large loop which it forms is 

 necessitated by the fact that it has to pass around the otic 

 capsule, close to the walls of which it runs. 



The other branch, the facial proper (fac.) takes an out- 

 ward and downward course from its origin from the ventral 

 side of the ganglion. It soon divides into alarge ramusto 

 the lower jaw (hy. man.) and a palatine ramus (p.), to the 

 roof of the mouth. Immediately on separation the palatine 

 runs forward and inward and then directly forward above the 

 roof of the mouth, until near the anterior wall of the orbit 

 it gives rise to an anastomosing commissure connecting it 

 with the ramus nasalis of the trigeminal. Beyond this 

 commissure the palatine bends inward and distributes it- 

 self to the epithelium of the mouth and the internal 

 choana. I do not find a branch of the palatine continuing 

 forward through the vomer to the region of the snout 

 as in other Batrachia. The fact that the nerve does not 

 extend forward to the nose precludes the possibility of 

 there being any connection between it and the froutalis or 

 nasalis other than the commissure above mentioned. A 

 terminal connection between the palatine and the trigem- 

 inal is described by Ecker in Rana esculenta. He also 

 mentions a double origin for the palatine from the separate 



