ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 
242 
tending from the point down to within an inch of the base: it is 
broader above than below, and is terminated inferiorly by a 
rounded angle. Internally, the concha exhibits a capacious cavity, 
broadly exposed by the external orifice; but ending below, at 
the back part, in a sort of chamber or cul-de-sac, in front of 
which is the funnel-like entrance to the meatus auditorius. The 
sides of the conchal cavity are marked by several longitudinal 
grooves or furrows, separated by irregular salient ridges; and 
the whole is so thickly clothed with long downy hair that the 
cavity in some horses seems to be almost choked up by them. 
Composition .—The concha is composed of three cartilages , 
connected and attached by ligaments and muscles , and enveloped 
within an external and an internal covering of common integu¬ 
ment. 
THE CARTILAGES OF THE EAR, fibrous in their struc¬ 
ture, are the conchal , the annular, and the scutiform. 
The conchal cartilage (so denominated from its giving 
shape to the concha) is the largest of the three, constituting the 
entire upper or trumpet-shaped part of the ear. In its detached 
state it represents a hollow cylinder very obliquely detruncated 
along its outer side, in which defective part is formed the external 
orifice. Its superior end or apex runs into a point: the base or 
inferior part bulges posteriorly, forming the chamber aforemen¬ 
tioned ; while anteriorly it is elongated into a bifurcated process 
of a semicircular form, which assists in the formation of the 
meatus auditorius. All the muscles but two, moving the ex¬ 
ternal ear, are attached to this cartilage*. By them it is at¬ 
tached to the cranium, and also, as well as by ligamentous ex¬ 
pansion, to the cartilage next to be considered. 
The annular cartilage, ring-like in its shape, surrounds 
the auditory process of the temporal bone, in which situation it 
is embraced by the lower end of the conchal cartilage, the two 
being connected by ligamentous substance. It forms the en¬ 
trance or beginning of the meatus auditorius externus.—Its use 
appears to be, to admit of the motions of the external ear, and, 
at the same time, preserve the meatus from sustaining obstruc¬ 
tion or interruption in its canal in consequence of such move¬ 
ments, whereby sound might be checked or arrested in its way 
to the interior. 
The scutiform, or triangular cartilage (wrongly 
called triangular , however, since its form bears a nearer approach 
to an oval, flattened), is situated at the inner and fore part of the 
base of the conchal cartilage, reposing upon the temporal muscle. 
It gives attachment to several of the muscles moving the ear. 
* Vide page 84, “ Auricular Region.” 
