OF THE VOMEE, ETHMOID, AND INTEEMAXILLAET BONES. 
299 
mesial processes continuous with it. In the Giraffe, however, there is an exception to 
the usual connexions ; the superior parts of the palatals floor-in the greater part of the 
ethmoidal turbinations, and the alse of the vomer only come in contact for a very short 
distance in front of the palatals with prolongations inw^ards from the framework of the 
lateral masses of the ethmoid, but are not anchylosed to them. The arrangement is 
extremely similar to that in the Horse, even in the shape of the back part of the vomer. 
There are some mteresting varieties in the intermaxillaries of ruminants. In the 
animals which we have hitherto examined, the angle of junction of the mesial-palatine 
and lateral plates of the intermaxillary has been the most anterior part of that bone, 
and the groove for the septal cartilage has been open in front, so that, as in the human 
subject, the cartilage could be prolonged forwards beyond the intermaxillaries. But in 
the Sheep there is a slight, a very slight inclination of the lateral plates to prolong 
themselves forwards beyond the points at which the mesial palatine processes come off 
from them (fig. 13). These points are at a little distance from the middle line, and the 
prolongations forwards of the lateral plates are inclined inwards, so that in front of the 
mesial plates there is a little space left in the middle line. Into this space the anterior 
extremity of the septal cartilage, slightly dilated, dips down, and the tendency of the tips 
of the intermaxillaries is to embrace it. This arrangement is so faint in the Sheep that it 
would appear unworthy of attention, were it not that in the Camel and the Alpaca it is 
carried out to a most distinct and unmistakeable extent. In them the mesial-palatine 
processes, which are but slender in comparison with the lateral plates, arise at such a 
distance from the middle line that at their bases they are first directed inwards to meet 
one another before they are directed backwards. The space for the extremity of the 
septal cartilage is large, and almost converted into a foramen by the prolonged tips of 
the lateral plates approaching the middle line in front of it ; and as they do so, they 
turn their inner aspects downwards, and embrace the cartilage on its upper border. 
Thus there can remain no doubt that the portion of the cartilage which projects through 
the space into the palate is really its anterior extremity (Plate V. fig. 14). 
In the Giraffe this relationship of the intermaxillaries to the septal cartilage is very 
distinct. The mesial-palatine processes are very large, while the lateral plates are com- 
paratively slender ; but the continuation forwards of the latter to embrace the septal 
cartilage is well marked (Plate IV. fig. 15). 
Pachydermata . — In the Horse, as already mentioned, the connexion of the vomer 
with the lateral masses of the ethmoid is of an exceptionally slight description. The 
leaflets of the ethmoid, which in most instances lie in contact for a considerable extent 
with the ethmovomerine laminae, are in this case floored-in completely by the supetior 
parts of the palate bones. But even in these circumstances a slender lamina, imme- 
diately in front of the palate bone, and in contact with its nasal foramen, passes down- 
wards and inwards on each side from the ethmoidal turbinations, and articulates with 
the ala of the vomer, though it is not anchylosed to it (fig. 16). These peculiar rela- 
tions in the skull of the Horse seem principally to depend on the palate bones being 
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