Clinical Anatomy of the European Hamster 
vasorum facialium the linguofacial vein receives the 
lingual vein {v. lingualis) and facial vein {v. facialis). 
The lingual vein drains the mandibular glands and 
the tongue. The facial vein drains the lips {v. labialis 
mandibularis and v. labialis maxillaris), the dorsal 
part of the nose {v. lateralis nasi) and the medial 
corner of the eye {v. angulans oculi). The latter 
anastomoses with the superficial temporal vein {v. 
temporalis superficialis), and thereby also with the 
ophthalmic plexus (plexus ophthalmicus). 
From caudal to rostral, the maxillary vein (v. 
maxillaris) receives the caudal auricular vein {v. 
auricularis caudalis) and the superficial temporal 
vein. Thereafter, it runs medially from the jaw 
joint and takes up a large branch draining the ven- 
tral sinus system of the brain. The rostral auricular 
vein {v. auricularis rostralis), the transverse facial 
vein (v. transversa faciei) and the masseteric vein 
(v. masseterica) discharge into the superficial tem- 
poral vein which itself ultimately communicates 
with the caudal edge of the ophthalmic plexus. 
The ophthalmic plexus is a large complex of 
venous blood vessels in the orbit. Blood may be 
easily drawn from this vascular plexus in the Euro- 
pean hamster, just as in the rat (Wells, 1968), 
mouse (Cohrs, et ai, 1958) and Syrian golden ham- 
ster (Stewart, et ai, 1944; House, et ai, 1961; 
Hoffman, et al. , 1 968). It fills the caudal half of the 
orbit completely and invests much of the medial 
surface of the eyeball and optic nerve. Its largest 
mass is positioned caudolaterally. The venous plex- 
us also gives off a medial vessel which accompanies 
the maxillary artery and connects with the basal 
sinus system of the brain above the foramen orbito- 
rotundum. The nomenclature and distribution of 
the most important veins of the brain can be seen 
in Figs. 2-58 and 2-74. 
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