text: The palatine bone and pterygoid are long and parallel to the axis of the skull, the latter diverging behind and extending to the quadrate or to the articular extremity of the mandible; the pterygoid is connected with the maxillary by the ectopterygoid or transverse bone, which may be very long, and the maxillary often emits a process towards the palatine, the latter bone being usually produced inwards and upwards towards the anterior extremity of the basisphenoid.
  The quadrate is usually large and elongate, and attached to the cranium through the supratemporal (often regarded as the squamosal).
  In rare cases, (Polemon) the transverse bone is forked and articulates with the two branches of the maxilla.
  The quadrate and maxillary and palatopterygoid arches are more or less movable to allow for the distension required by the passage of prey, often much exceeding the size of the mouth. For the same reason, the rami of the lower jaw, which consist of dentary, splenial, angular, and articular elements, with the addition of a coronoid in the boas and a few other small families, are connected at the symphysis by a very extensible elastic ligament.
  The hyoid apparatus is reduced to a pair of cartilaginous filaments situated below the trachea, and united in front.