[The posterior auricular artery of the dog].

This investigation was made on the ramifications and distribution territories of the posterior auricular artery of fifty adult dogs utilizing the plastic injection method, comparing with those of the cat. In general, the posterior auricular artery of the dog arose independently from the posterior wall of the external carotid artery at a position where it passed across the superior margin of the digastricus muscle, distal to the origin of the facial artery. In six cases of all examples observed, the posterior auricular artery arose independently from the external carotid artery at a position where it passed across the inferior margin of the digastricus muscle, proximal to the origin of the lingual artery. As principal branches, the posterior auricular artery gave rise to the parotid glandular, the digastric muscular and the strong, cervical branches in this order. It finally terminated to the temporal muscular and the major auricular branches after giving off the occipital branch and the stylomastoid artery. The distribution territories of the posterior auricular artery of the dog, being similar to those of the cat, were not only the auricule but also the muscles of the mastication, the salivary glands, the middle ear and the retromandibular regions.