A Gross Anatomical Study of the Lacrimal Apparatus of the Camel

A gross anatomical study was made on the lacrimal apparatus in seventeen adult camels (4-10 years age), and three foetuses. The lacrimal gland is situated between the caudodorsal aspect of the eyeball and the supraorbital and frontal process of the frontal and zygomatic bones, respectively. The gland consists of two lobes, cranial and caudal. The excretory ducts were 3-4 in number, and opened into the superior conjunctiva. There were no puncta lacrimalia, either in the lower, or the superior eyelid. The two lacrimal ducts started blindly and opened into the lacrimal sac, the enlarged beginning of the nasolacrimal duct. The nasolacrimal duct begins as a small osseous duct in the bony lacrimal canal and continues rostrally medial to the maxilla. It opens into the medial wall of the nasal vestibule at the junction of the skin with the mucous membrane. In its course the nasolacrimal duct has many fenestrae in its wall. The arterial supply to the lacrimal gland comes from the lacrimal artery, a branch of rete mirabili of the external ophthalmic artery, and it is drained by the lacrimal vein which joins the ophthalmic vein.