THE ADDUCTOR MANDIBULAE MUSCLES 



Scorpaena scrofa. 



This short description and drawing is presented only to include a 

 common type. Dr. Allis, in his Cranial Anatomy of the Mail-Cheeked 

 Fishes (Zoologica Stuttgart, H, 57, 1909), has given a very complete, 

 and much better description. 



A 2+3 



Fig. i. SCORPAENA SCROFA 

 A 1-2-3, muscles of Vetter ; Lap, levator arcus palatini ; max, maxillary ; T, tendon. 



The superior part of the adductor mandibulae consists of two parts : 

 ( i ) A dorsal muscle originating on the preopercle and running forward 

 to a broad tendinous band along its entire front, which at its upper end 

 forms a tendon to the maxillary, and at its lower joins the tendons of 

 the ventral muscle to the mandible. (2) A ventral muscle originating 

 on the preopercle (and on other bones anterior to it), and covered on its 

 upper part by the dorsal muscle. Anteriorly it is inserted on three tendons 

 running to the mandible ; the middle one of which is the sesamoid articu- 

 lar tendon. This muscle represents A-2+ 3 of Vetter.* According to 



*Vetter. Janaische Zeitschr., XII, 1878. 



