The Middle Ear and Columella of Birds

Abstract

ABSTRACT It may seem a supererogatory task to add to the pile of literature which deals with the ear-bone homologies a straightforward account of those anatomical and embryological facts which may be ascertained by the examination of such familiar types as the fowl and pigeon; but after a painstaking research into the literature of the Sauropsidau middle ear I have unwillingly concluded that such a course was desirable. Although this literature is voluminous there is no single description of any Suuropsidan type which from a modern standpoint can be considered at all complete ; that is to say, there is no account which describes in any one type— 1.The development and transformation of the auditory ossicles from the earliest procartilage stage up-war ds;2.The relations of the seventh nerve and chorda tympani to the ossicles at different stages of development.