On the Vomer in Man and the Mammalia. 93 



framework of that bone. On the upper aspect there is a sharp 

 angle between the laminae that lie against the cartilaginous 

 septum and their lateral expansions, and the former are pro- 

 longed in many animals beyond the angle. Where the eth- 

 moid is joined by the ethmo-vomerine lamina — for so we shall 

 call the expansion just described — it forms the upper part of 

 the nasal foramen of the palate bone, in human anatomy 

 called the spheno-palatine foramen. In the lamb there is not 

 much development of the vomer as a mesial plate below the 

 level of the groove. It articulates inferiorly by a rough 

 sutured edge with the superior maxillary bones, and in front 

 of that its scooped anterior extremity lies for about an eighth 

 of an inch or so on the groove formed by the mesial processes of 

 the intermaxillary bones — the universal method of articulation 

 of the mammalian vomer with the intermaxillary bones (fig. 1). 



The vomer of the cat is proportionally less elongated than 

 that of the sheep, but like it has little development of the 

 mesial plate beneath the vomerine groove. It articulates by 

 a rough surface with the superior maxillary and palate bones, 

 but with the intermaxillary bones by an elongation forward 

 upon them of the laminae which bound the groove. These 

 laminae are connected towards their back part with the lateral 

 masses of the ethmoid, exactly as is the case in the sheep ;. 

 and at the point where the vomer passes into the ethmoid, the 

 latter presents a minute orbital surface, which lies between 

 the two ascending processes of the palate bone, and completes 

 by a point in its inferior margin the almost perfect nasal 

 foramen of that bone. The sphenoid process of the palate- 

 bone lies between the ethmo-vomerine laminae and the ptery- 

 goid bone. The central plate of the ethmoid does not at all 

 touch the vomer in early life, but the cartilaginous septum of 

 the nose passes back beneath it to the presphenoid bone. 



It may be mentioned at once that the nasal foramen of the 

 palate bone is completed by the ethmoid in all the animals 

 examined. 



The relations of the vomer in the fox and the pig are the 

 same as in the cat. In the case of the hedgehog, as in the 

 sheep, it does not articulate with the palate bones. In the 

 horse also it does not articulate with the palate bones. But the 



