Supernumerary or rudimentary auricles, described in the Japanese literature as naevus cartilagineus,1 constitute a rare congenital anomaly. They are small teatlike projections on or near the external surface of the tragus. They have been mistaken for fibromas.2 Because of this confusion and the paucity of reports in the American literature this subject is again brought to the attention of physicians. Of 50,000 children examined by Warner,3 only 33 had this anomaly, but it is our impression from observations made in the large dermatologic clinic at Bellevue Hospital that the condition occurs more frequently than the figures indicate.
The external ear, which is composed of the auricle and the external acoustic meatus, is formed in the embryo by gradual differentiation and development of six tubercles, which appear on the first and second pharyngeal arches around the lateral, or outer part, of the first pharyngeal cleft. The tubercles form the auricle, or