The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
1. parietal.
2. sagittal crest.
3. frontal.
4. supra-orbital ridge.
5. squamosal.
6. maxillae.
7. external auditory meatus.]
In Man and in most monkeys, at any rate when young (fig. 99, B), the
roof of the skull is smooth and rounded, but in many forms, such as
the Baboons, in the adult the supra-orbital and occipital ridges are
much developed. In the Gorilla this is also the case with the sagittal
crest (fig. 99, A, 2). The bones of the upper surface of the cranium
interlock with wavy outlines. The nasals vary much in length, being
much shorter in man than in most monkeys; they commonly become early
fused together, as do also the frontals. The vomer is well developed,
and the ethmo-turbinal always forms part of the boundary of the orbit.
There are frequently, as in many Lemuroidea, a pair of more or less
well-marked ridges, crossing the roof of the skull from the
postorbital processes of the frontals to the occipital crest. The
orbit is completely encircled by bone, and the alisphenoid assists the
jugal and frontal in shutting it off from the temporal fossa, leaving
however a communication between the two as the sphenomaxillary
fissure. In most cases the frontals meet one another in the middle
line between the mesethmoid and orbitosphenoid, but in Man, Simia, and
some Cebidae this does not take place. In nearly all Cebidae the
parietal and jugal meet one another, separating the frontal and
alisphenoid on the skull wall; in Man and all Old World monkeys, on
the other hand, the alisphenoid and frontal meet and separate the
jugal and parietal. The premaxillae nearly always send back processes
which meet the nasals. The palate is rather short and both the
palatine and the premaxillae take a considerable part in its formation.
The pterygoid plate of the alisphenoid is decidedly large, and there
is no alisphenoid canal. There is never any great development either
of the paroccipital process of the exoccipital, or of the postglenoid
process of the squamosal. The periotic and tympanic are always fused
together; in Cebidae they form a small bulla, but a bulla is not
developed in any Old World forms. The periotic is large, especially
the mastoid portion, which forms a distinct portion of the skull wall
between the squamosal and exoccipital. In Man and still more in Old
World monkeys, the external auditory meatus is drawn out into a
definite tube, whose lower wall is formed by the tympanic; in the
Cebidae the tympanic is ring-like. The perforation of the periotic by
the carotid canal is always conspicuous.
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