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The sites of nerve entry and the intramuscular nerve branchings in the masseter, temporalis, medial and lateral pterygoid muscles were studied. A total of 55 muscles were taken from eight infants and only one adult subject. It was found that for each of the four muscles of mastication, the nerves entered at a nearly fixed point. The masseter and medial pterygoid have their point of nerve entry very near to their origin, the temporalis very near to its insertion, the lateral pterygoid midway between its origin and its insertion. The intramuscular nerve branchings were investigated in the four muscles and, according to their relation to the direction of the muscle fibres, three patterns have been recognized. The results obtained were compared with those of other workers on other muscles.

INIR,ODUCTIONMuch work was carried out on muscle spindles as sensory end organs in the various skeletal muscles of the body. Sherrington (1894) was one of the pioneers who gave a detailed description of their structure as well as their role in maintaining the body position and coordination of muscle movements.