The vertebrate ear resembles the eye and nose in many important respects, but is different in others, in its development. The auscultory organ in the fully-developed man is like that of the other mammals, and especially the apes, in the main features. As in them, it consists of two chief parts--an apparatus for conducting sound (external and middle ear) and an apparatus for the sensation of sound (internal ear). The external ear opens in the shell at the side of the head (Figure 2.320 a). From this point the external passage (b), about an inch in length, leads into the head. The inner end of it is closed by the tympanum, a vertical, but not quite upright, thin membrane of an oval shape (c). This tympanum separates the external passage from the tympanic cavity (d). This is a small cavity, filled with air, in the temporal bone; it is connected with the mouth by a special tube. This tube is rather longer, but much narrower, than the outer passage, leads inwards obliquely from the anterior wall of the tympanic cavity, and opens in the throat below, behind the nasal openings. It is called the Eustachian tube (e); it serves to equalise the pressure of the air within the tympanic cavity and the outer atmosphere that enters by the external passage. Both the Eustachian tube and the tympanic cavity are lined with a thin mucous coat, which is a direct continuation of the mucous lining of the throat. Inside the tympanic cavity there are three small bones which are known (from their shape) as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup (Figure 2.320, f, g, h). The hammer (f) is the outermost, next to the tympanum. The anvil (g) fits between the other two, above and inside the hammer. The stirrup (h) lies inside the anvil, and touches with its base the outer wall of the internal ear, or auscultory vesicle. All these parts of the external and middle ear belong to the apparatus for conducting sound. Their chief task is to convey the waves of sound through the thick wall of the head to the inner-lying auscultory vesicle. They are not found at all in the fishes. In these the waves of sound are conveyed directly by the wall of the head to the auscultory vesicle.