The skull is of a spheroidal figure, compressed on the sides, broader behind ihan before, and supported by its base on the vertebral column.

It is divided by anatomists into two parts, the cranium and the face ; the former being composed of eight bones, viz., the occipital, two 'parietal, the frontal, two temporal, the sphenoid, and the ethmoid ; the latter is made up of fourteen bones, viz., two superior maxillary, two malar, two ossa nasi, two ossa palati, two ossa unguis, two inferior turbinated bones, the vomer, and inferior maxilla ; the frontal bone is so situated as to be common to the cranium and face. The bones of the ear are not included in this enumeration, as they belong rather to a special organ than to the skeleton considered as the framework of the body.

The bones of the face are fourteen in number