THE PALATINE, or faucial, tonsils are paired structures lying in a fossa bounded by the palatine arches, or pillars. At about the third month of fetal life epithelial projections grow into the tonsils from the fossae and form a complex system of crypts. Cellular debris or secretion may collect within these crypts to form firm plugs of cholesteatomatous material. The blood supply is extensive, all branches being derived from the external carotid artery. They include the dorsalis linguae from the lingual artery, the ascending palatine and tonsillar from the external maxillary artery, the ascending pharyngeal from the external carotid artery and the descending palatine from the internal maxillary artery. The pharyngeal plexus empties into the internal jugular vein by way of the pharyngeal vein and into the external jugular vein by way of the posterior palatine vein to the pterygoid plexus. Lymphatic vessels are likewise fairly extensive. Efferent vessels from