The premaxillae are usually separate, but sometimes, as in some Ophidia (fig. 51, 1), Chelonia, Lacertilia (Agamidae), and Dinosaurs (Ceratopsia) they are united. In the Dinosaur _Hadrosaurus_ they are exceedingly large and spatulate. In the Rhynchocephalian _Hyperodapedon_ they are drawn out into a strongly curved beak.
As regards the mandible, sometimes, as in most Rhynchocephalia, Ophidia and Pythonomorpha, the rami have only a ligamental union; sometimes, as in Crocodilia, the Rhynchosauridae and the majority of Lacertilia, they are suturally united. In Chelonia (fig. 28, B, 12), and apparently in Pterosauria, the two dentaries are completely fused together. The sutures between the various bones of the lower jaw usually persist, but in Ophidia those between the angular, supra-angular, articular and coronoid are obliterated. There are sometimes large vacuities in the mandible, as in Theromorpha, Crocodilia, and some Dinosauria. In _Iguanodon_, _Polyonax_, _Hypsilophodon_ and _Hadrosaurus_ among Dinosaurs the mandible has a predentary or mento-meckelian bone which, in some cases at any rate, was probably sheathed in a horny beak.
The principal part of the auditory ossicular chain is formed by a rod-like columella. The development of the hyoid apparatus varies, and it often happens that the first branchial arch is better developed than is the hyoid arch. In the Crocodilia and Chelonia there is a large basilingual plate or body of the hyoid (fig. 53, 1); but while in the Crocodilia the first branchial forms the only well-developed arch, in the Chelonia the first and second branchials are both strongly developed, and the hyoid is often fairly large.
[Illustration FIG. 53. HYOIDS OF AN ALLIGATOR (_Caiman latirostris_) (TO THE LEFT) AND OF A GREEN TURTLE (_Chelone midas_) (TO THE RIGHT) × 5/8. (Brit. Mus.)
1. basilingual plate or body of the hyoid. 2. hyoid arch. 3. first branchial arch (anterior cornu). 4. second branchial arch (posterior cornu).]
Ribs are always present, and may be attached to any of the precaudal vertebrae. In most reptiles the posterior cervical vertebrae bear ribs, while the atlas and axis are ribless; in Crocodiles and Geckos, however, ribs are borne even by the atlas and axis. On the other hand, in the Chelonia none of the cervical vertebrae bear obvious ribs. In the following groups the thoracic ribs have both capitula and tubercula--Theromorpha, Ichthyosauria, Crocodilia, Dinosauria, Pterosauria. In the other groups each rib articulates by a single head, and the position of the facet is subject to a considerable amount of variation, thus in the Squamata it lies on the centrum, and in the Sauropterygia on the neural arch, while in the Chelonia the rib articulates with the contiguous parts of two centra instead of directly with one.