An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinctLydekker, Richard
Science
An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinct
Lydekker, Richard
Mammals
_Air-sacs._—Most mammals have in connection with the air passages certain
diverticuli or pouches containing air, the use of which is not always
easy to divine. The numerous air sinuses situated between the outer and
inner tables of the bones of the head, represented in Man by the antrum
of Highmore and the frontal and sphenoidal sinuses, and attaining their
maximum of development in the Indian Elephant, are obviously for the
mechanical purpose of allowing expansion of the osseous surface without
increase of weight. They are connected with the nasal passages. The
Eustachian tubes pass from the back of the pharynx to the cavity of
the tympanum, into which and the mastoid cells they allow air to pass.
In the _Equidæ_ there are large post-pharyngeal air-sacs in connection
with them. The Dolphins have an exceedingly complicated system of
air-sacs in connection with the nasal passages just within the nostrils,
and the Tapirs, Rhinoceroses, and Horses have blind sacs in the same
situation. In the males of some Seals (_Cystophora_ and _Macrorhinus_)
large pouches, which the animal can inflate with air, and which are not
developed in the young animal or the female, arise from the upper part
of the nasal passages, and lie immediately under the skin of the face.
These appear analogous, although not in the same situation, to the gular
pouch of the male Bustard. The larynx frequently has membranous pouches
in connection with it, into which air passes. These may be lateral and
opening just above the vocal cords, when they constitute the _sacculi
laryngis_, found in a rudimentary state in Man, and attaining an enormous
development, so as to reach to the shoulders and axillæ, in some of the
Anthropoid Apes; or they may be median, opening in front either above or
below the thyroid and cricoid cartilages, as in the Howling and other
Monkeys, and also in the Whalebone Whales and Great Anteater.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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