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The two anterior of the four lobes on the dorsal side of the midbrain of most mammals; the anterior optic lobes.

The prominent part of the face or anterior extremity of the head containing the nostrils and olfactory cavities; the olfactory organ. See Nostril, and Olfactory organ under Olfactory.

ich give passage to the air breathed and to secretions from the nose and eyes; one of the anterior nares.

ing to, or in the region of, the back, or nape, of the neck; -- applied especially to the anterior median plate in the carapace of turtles.

corresponding to the odontoid process. -- Odontoid process, or Odontoid peg (Anat.), the anterior process of the centrum of the second vertebra, or axis, in birds and mammals. See Axis.

The anterior element of the sternum which projects forward from between the clavicles in many batrachians and is usually tipped with cartilage.

Concave behind; -- applied especially to vertebræ in which the anterior end of the centrum is convex and the posterior concave.

-- Optic axis. (Opt.) (a) A line drawn through the center of the eye perpendicular to its anterior and posterior surfaces. In a normal eye it is in the direction of the optic axis that objects are most distinctly seen. (b) The line in a doubly refracting crystal, in the direction of which no double refraction occurs. A…

Having the anterior toes united by a web, as in most swimming birds; webbed. See Illust. (i) under Aves.

rd; -- applied especially to the cartilaginous rudiments of the skull on each side of the anterior part of the notochord. -- n.

ed near the epididymis in man and some other animals, and supposed to be a remnant of the anterior part of the Wolffian body.

One of a pair of small vesicular organs situated at the bases of the anterior wings of lepidopterous insects. See Illust. of Butterfly.

The thin chambered shell attached to the anterior end of a belemnite. [Written also phragmacone.]

Flat at the anterior and concave at the posterior end; -- said of the centra of the vertebræ of some extinct dinouaurs.

An extensive suborder of fresh-water physostomous fishes having the anterior vertebræ united and much modified; the Eventognathi.

Situated behind; hinder; -- opposed to anterior.

A transverse commissure in the anterior part of the third ventricle of the brain; the anterior cerebral commissure.

The anterior horn of each lateral ventricle of the brain. B. G. Wilder.

The anterior nares. See Nares. B. G. Wilder.

Situated in front of any transverse axis in the body of an animal; anterior; cephalic; esp., in front, or on the anterior, or cephalic (that is, radial or tibial) side of the axis of a limb.