OCR Text |
Show 1881.] ANATOMY OF THE EPOMOPHORI. 689 The nasal cavities are brought into communication with the larynx by a long canal, which extends backwards along the spine and enters the pharynx directly opposite to the aperture of the larynx; so that the greater part of what we have called the pharynx would be evidently more correctly termed the isthmus faucium. The walls of the larynx are ossified, enclosing a spacious cavity, Fig. 4. Head and neck of Epomophorus franqueti (ad. <$, natural size). The anterior (a.ph. s) and posterior (p.ph. s) pharyngeal sacs are opened from without, the dotted lines indicating the points where they communicate with the pharynx; s, thin membranous septum in middle line between the anterior pharyngeal sacs of opposite sides; s.m, sterno-mastoid muscle separating the anterior from the posterior sac. the anterior aperture of which (figs. 2 & 5) is protected by a very large epiglottis (e), which rests against the rounded anterior extremities of a pair of large crescent-shaped fibro-cartilaginous cushions (e), which extend forwards from the anterior margins of the triangular arytenoid cartilages (a). The true vocal cords are well developed and much longer than the false cords; the ventricles are spacious, and continued backwards between the true vocal cords and the thyroid, forming large sacculi, and forwards between the false vocal cords and the thyroid to its anterior margin, forming narrower but much longer " sacculi laryngis." |