Page:An Introduction to the Study of Fishes.djvu/85

Rh The formation of the posterior part of the side of the skull is completed by the mastoid and parietal bones. The former (12) projects outwards and backwards farther than the paroccipital, forming the outer strong process of the side of the cranium. This process lodges on its upper surface one of the main ducts of the muciferous system, and affords the base of articulation to a part of the hyomandibular. Its extremity gives attachment to the strong tendon of the dorso-lateral muscles of the trunk. The parietals (7) are flat bones, of comparatively much smaller extent than in higher Vertebrates, and separated from each other by the anterior prolongation of the supra-occipital.

The anterior wall of the brain-capsule (or the posterior of the orbit) is formed by the orbitosphenoids (14), between which, superiorly, the olfactory nerves, and inferiorly, the optic, pass out of the cranium. In addition to this paired bone, the Perch and many other fishes possess another single bone (15),—the os sphenoideum anterius of Cuvier, ethmoid of Owen, and basisphenoid of Huxley; it is Y-shaped, each lateral branch being connected with an orbitosphenoid, whilst the lower branch rests upon the long basal bone.

A cartilage, the substance of which is thickest above the vomer, and which extends as a narrow stripe along the interorbital septum, represents the ethmoid of higher Vertebrata; the olfactory nerves run along, and finally perforate it.

There remain, finally, the bones distinguishable on the upper surface of the skull; the largest, extending from the nasal cavities to the occipital, are the frontal bones (1), which also form the upper margin of the orbit. The postfrontals (4) are small bones placed on the supero-posterior angle of the orbit, and serving as the point from which the infraorbital ring is suspended. The prefrontals (2), also small, occupy the anterior margin of the orbit. A pair of small tubiform bones (20), the turbinals, occupy the foremost part of the snout, in front of