The lab manual for this course is
Atlas
and Dissection Guide for Comparative Anatomy by Saul Wischnitzer.
Be sure to have a copy by the time you get to class. Starting in Week
2 you will also need 3 dissection tools: forceps, a blunt probe, and
scissors with one pointed and one blunt tip. You will also need a box
of latex gloves, which you can probably share with your lab partner.
Tools and gloves can be purchased at the Dental Supply Store in the
basement of Postle Hall. A lab coat or old shirt with which to cover
your clothes is also highly recommended.
Quizzes will consist of a practical
portion
(where you're asked to identify material you saw the week before) and
a written portion over that week's material, so be sure to have
read your lab manual in advance of each class. The first quiz will
be
given in Week 2; the practical portion will cover the bones from
Week
1, and the written portion will cover general questions out of the lab
manual for the Week 2 material.
Spelling counts! We won't be
horrendously picky,
and if it's not too far off there will usually be at least partial
credit. In
cases where you put something like "tibula", though, where we can't
tell
if you mean "fibula" or "tibia", it would have to be counted wrong. Be
familiar with the correct spellings.
In the book, figure 2-2 and 2-3 show
the nasolacrimal
canal at the anterior edge of the eye socket, but does not label
it.
Figure 2-4 shows the eustacian tube
openings
at the base of the tympanic bullas, but does not label them.
In Figure 2-19, the coracoid process of
the
scapula can't be seen from that view.
In Figure 2-20, the olecranon fossa and
head
of the humerus can't be seen from that view.
There's no getting around it - this
course
requires a good deal of memorization and repetition. The more times you
see the material, the better it will stick in your mind. Provided
there's
room, you're welcome to come to other lab sections (after the quizzes
are over) to review the material on your own. Make use of the TA office
hours as well. Sorry, we can't let you borrow the bone kits to study
at home, but you'll have plenty of opportunity to look at them in
class.
The limb bones of the cat can seem
confusing
at first, until you look for specific identifying landmarks. Look for
the curve of the trochlea and the olecranon fossa on the humerus; the
"tennis ball" head of the femur (which fits into the acetabulum of the
innominate bone); the triangular cross-section of the tibia ("t" for
triangle and tibia); the U-shaped notch in the ulna ("u" for ulna). The
only two that are nondescript are the radius and the fibula, but the
fibula is the thinner of the two.
You will be asked to distinguish left
from right
on some of the cat bones: the scapula, humerus, innominate bone, femur,
and tibia. To do this, you will need two points of orientation
on the bone. For instance, the olecranon fossa of the humerus is always
on the inside (medial side), and the curve of the trochlea points
toward
the animal's head.
Be aware of the differences and
similarities
in the skeletons you're examining. In the bird, for instance, a number
of bones that are separate in the cat, are fused together for increased
strength and decreased weight (example: the separate tarsals in the cat
fuse in the bird with the distal end of the tibia into the tibiotarsus,
and others fuse with the metatarsals into the tarsometatarsus). Other
bones, like the humerus and femur, are distinct in both cat and bird;
be able to recognize them in each.
Speaking of fused bones: remember that
the
innominate bone is a fusion of 3 bones, the ischium, ilium, and pubis.
Be able to point out each part. The sacrum consists of a fusion of
the 3 sacral vertebrae.
Recognize the vertebrae types by
identifying
their shape (for instance the sweeping "wings" of the transverse
processes
on the lumbar vertebrae), rather than by counting them down on a
skeleton. When you're asked to identify a vertebra, it will almost
always be a single disarticulated one, and not mounted on a skeleton.
We won't give you the ambiguous ones, where it becomes difficult to
tell if something is a late cervical or early thoracic vertebra, for
instance.
Be aware of the different types of
teeth in the
cat, and what bones they sit in, both in the upper and lower jaws. Note
the
little tiny tooth on each side, in the back of the upper jaw - yes,
that's the molar.
Nothing directly to do with the course ... this section will have an occasionally-changing recommendation for books of general scientific interest - guided by the whimsy of the web-site maintainer, of course. :) This week's pick is:
The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan
(a book that I personally feel should have been read by anyone who
considers themselves educated)
