Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.
pages 184
| petrotympanic fissure. The anterior and larger part of the fossa articulates with the condyle of the mandible and is limited behind by the external acoustic meatus: the posterior part sometimes lodges a portion of the parotid gland. The styloid process extends downward and forward for a variable distance from the lower part of the tympanic part, and gives attachment to the Styloglossus, Stylohyoideus, and Stylopharyngeus, and to the stylohyoid and stylomandibular ligaments. Projecting downward behind the external acoustic meatus is the mastoid process, to the outer surface of which the Sternocleidomastoideus, Splenius capitis, and Longissimus capitis are attached. |
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FIG. 189– Left infratemporal fossa. (See enlarged image) |
The Infratemporal Fossa (fossa infratemporalis; zygomatic fossa) (Fig. 189).—The infratemporal fossa is an irregularly shaped cavity, situated below and medial to the zygomatic arch. It is bounded, in front, by the infratemporal surface of the maxilla and the ridge which descends from its zygomatic process; behind, by the articular tubercle of the temporal and the spinal angularis of the sphenoid; above, by the great wing of the sphenoid below the infratemporal crest, and by the under surface of the temporal squama; below, by the alveolar border of the maxilla; medially, by the lateral pterygoid plate. It contains the lower part of the Temporalis, the Pterygoidei internus and externus, the internal maxillary vessels, and the mandibular and maxillary nerves. The foramen ovale and foramen spinosum open on its roof, and the alveolar canals on its anterior wall. At its upper and medial part are two fissures, which together form a T-shaped fissure, the horizontal limb being named the inferior orbital, and the vertical one the pterygomaxillary. |
| The inferior orbital fissure (fissura orbitalis inferior; sphenomaxillary fissure), horizontal in direction, opens into the lateral and back part of the orbit. It is bounded above by the lower border of the orbital surface of the great wing of the |