27 
Elephant. 
Platysraa. Orbicularis-oculi-group. 
28 
whole muscle thereby becomes fanshaped: narrow, but thick and 
rather strong at the insertion — flat, broad and separated in se- 
A^eral portions at the origin. The whole line of origin, which 
forms a bow, convex posteriorly, nearly reaches the middle of 
the masseter; and the upper portion is some distance from the 
zygoma. Dorsad the muscle is continued into a thin aponeurosis, 
which vanishes over the zygoma. — On the right side of the 
head (PI. 1) the angular portion consists of two well marked 
branches (d and e), to which furthermore joins the uppermost 
branch (c) of the mandibular portion; all three branches converge 
a little behind the angle of the mouth, where thcy project into 
the m. buccinatorius, the branches d and e here join closely. 
The branch d arises on the middle of the masseter from the apo¬ 
neurosis. The uppermost branch (PI. 1, e), however, turns its hind¬ 
most end backwards and upwards and in the aponeurosis there 
is a thickened portion (PI. 1, /) which is inserted on the lower 
edge of the zygoma, and which may easily be dissected out as 
a separate tendon of the uppermost branch; or, in other words, 
on this side of the head there is formed a strongly marked pars 
zygomatica platysmatis, which, however, shows its close connec¬ 
tion with — or we might say — its origin from the platysma 
by the very intimate cohesion with the rest of the angular por¬ 
tion. In comparison with this the left side shows a more primi¬ 
tive state, as a distinct (separate) portion of the platysma, which 
may be designated as a »pars zygomatica«, has not yet been 
singled out here. 
As mentioned above, the fascicles of the angular portion join 
and project into the buccinator a little behind the angle of 
the mouth. The buccinator and the platysma are here quite 
interlaced; the bundles of the platysma, in several rows (v. PI. 4), 
one behind the other, projecting between the bundles of the 
buccinator; farther on they join the longitudinal bundles of this 
muscle. 
Upon the whole the relation of the pars zygomatica to the 
rest of the platysma in the Elephant examined appears with the 
stamp of a more primitive state than that found in the Ungulates 
(vide General Part p. 9). Only in Alces is there still found some 
connection between them, but not by any means to such an ex¬ 
tent as in the Elephant. 
In some respects the platysma of the Elephant resembles 
that of the Ungulates. We find in both of them the great reduc¬ 
tion of the cervical portion which is wholly transformed into an 
aponeurosis. But in the Elephant the muscular part of the pla¬ 
tysma is also somewhat reduced, since it corresponds only to 
the lower part of the pars principalis (+ pars zygomatica) in the 
Ungulates; thus it most resembles that of the Camel (PI. 5). In 
all the other Ungulates examined there is besides an upper part 
of the pars principalis which, now as a continuous muscular plate 
(Wapiti, Boar, Tapir), now as more or less separated bundles 
(Bos, Horse, Elk), crosses the masseter; all this upper part of 
the pars principalis is wanting in the Elephant. The part of the 
platysma which remains shows several peculiarities, has under¬ 
gone considerable modifications which no doubt are rather closely 
connected with the transformation that the whole face of this ani¬ 
mal has undergone. The continuous lower part of the pars prin¬ 
cipalis of the Ungulates has, in the Elephant, been split into two 
well marked portions, an angular portion and a mandibular por¬ 
tion, and the origin of the angular portion has been raised con¬ 
siderably on the outside of the masseter. Last but not least, the 
direction of the fibres must be observed. In the Ungulates they 
are longitudinal, in the Elephant, however, they ascend in an 
arc and converge towards the angle of the mouth. These altera¬ 
tions of the platysma, no doubt, stand in close connection with 
the abbreviation of the face, by which the angle of the mouth 
has been drawn so far back (almost under the eye), partly they 
are evidently due to the fact that the angle of the mouth has 
been raised so much in the Elephant. 
The accounts of the platysma in Watson 1 ) (»panniculus car- 
*) Contributions to the Anatomy of the Indian Elephant. Part IV. Muscles and 
Blood-vessels of the face and head, in: Journ. of Anat. and Physiol. Vol. 9. 1874. 
nosus«) and Miall and Greenwood 1 ) (»platysma myoides, facial 
portion of panniculus«) are very short and incomplete. They men¬ 
tion the insertion of the bundles of the platysma partly into the 
lower jaw partly at the angle of the mouth; but also state that 
the upper bundles insert themselves into »the facial aponeurosis 
below the zygoma« 2 ). We have not found this. — The pars zygo¬ 
matica platysmatis, which in both papers is described by the 
name of »zygomatico-labialis«, was evidently present in a fully 
developed form in the specimen examined by Miall and Green¬ 
wood. But in the paper of Watson the description is rather vague. 
One has the impression that his specimen presented the same 
conditions as the left side of our specimen, viz. that in reality 
there was no distinctly separated pars zygomatica. 
2. ORBICULARIS-OCULI-GROUP. 
PI. 1; PI. 4: PI. 16, fig. 20. 
The m. orbicularis oculi (PI. 1 and PL 16, fig. 20) is a strong, 
rather thick muscle of about the same width in the upper eyelid 
as in the lower; but in neither of them so wide that it goes 
beyond the bony aperture of the orbit. It is a very coarse-fibred 
muscle, the fascicles of which may, without difficulty, be dissected 
throughout their whole length. The muscle does not form a com¬ 
plete ring. At the anterior angle there is a broad, thick ligamen- 
tum palpebrale (anterius, nasale), from the upper and lower margin 
of which the fibres arise. From the upper margin the fibres ascend 
in an arc into the upper lid; the fibres that are most superficial 
at the origin only reach a short distance into the eyelid and in¬ 
sert themselves into the skin with pointed, short tendons. The 
other fibres gradually grow longer and the longest penetrate the 
whole of the upper ej'elid unto behind the posterior angle, from 
which some of them descend a little into the lower eyelid. In the 
lower eyelid the fibres behave in a corresponding manner. At 
the posterior angle the fibres meet and their free ends are inti¬ 
mately 1 ' interlaced. This interlacement is further complicated by 
the m. postorbicularis, which begins with rather short bundles 
that go round the posterior angle, and are bent in a manner 
quite similar to the bundles of the m. orbicularis with which 
they are interlaced. Caudad the fascicles of the m. postorbicu¬ 
laris grow gradually streight, so that they at last go almost dorso- 
ventrad. The whole m. postorbicularis forms a rather broad mu¬ 
scular plate behind the m. orbicularis consisting of thick, coarse 
fascicles which »anastomose«: a small branch parting from one 
fascicle and then passing obliquely downwards to join a neigh¬ 
bouring fascicle. In PI. 16, fig. 20 only a single »anastomosing« 
fascicle is seen whereas the other rather numerous »anastomoses« 
only become visible by spreading the bundles; especially between 
the posterior fascicles of the m. postorbicularis these »anastomo- 
ses« were so numerous that one might fairly speak of a reticular 
arrangement of the fascicles. 
In front of the m. orbicularis, covered in its middle by the 
lig. palpebrale nasale, the m. prceorbicularis (PI. 4) is seen, having 
the form of two fan-shaped, dorsad and ventrad radiating por¬ 
tions (the m. prceorbicularis dorsalis et ventralis). By loosening the 
ligamentum it becomes plain that the posterior fascicles are tra¬ 
versing ones, extending from above downwards in an arc inside 
the ligamentum, and closely joining the orbicularis-fascicles. The 
anterior fascicles, however, are interrupted; they arise separately 
inside the lig. palpebrale. The dorsal ones cover most of the 
origin of the m. nasolabialis, whereas the ventral ones partly in¬ 
terlace between the fascicles of the latter (PI. 4). 
The m. nasolabialis (PL 1 and 4) is in front of the m. prte- 
orbicularis. It intimately joins the m. pi-teorbicularis but still it 
may be distinctly separated from it by dissection. It is a small 
muscle composed of coarse fascicles with plent}' of intramuscular 
adipose connective tissue. It arises above and a little in front of 
the orbit, partly from the frontal bone, partly from the fascia 
that covers the portio superior m. maxillo-labialis. The origin is 
mostly covered by the m. prseorbicularis dorsalis. The fascicles go 
downwards in the shape of a fan; the posterior ones go almost 
straight downwards in the direction of the angle of the mouth, 
1) Studies in Comparative Anatomy. II. Anatomy of the Indian Elephant. Lon¬ 
don 1878. Reprinted from Journ. of Anat. and Physiol. Vol. 12—13. 
2 ) Miall and Greenwood 1. c. p. 31. 
