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The term = skeleton = is applied to the framework of hard structures which supports and protects the soft tissues of animals. In the descriptive anatomy of the higher animals it is usually restricted to the bones and cartilages, although the ligaments which bind these together might well be included.
In zoölogy the term is used in a much more comprehensive sense, and includes all the harder supporting and protecting structures. When the latter are situated externally, they form an = exoskeleton = , derived from the ectoderm. Examples of this are the shells and chitinous coverings of many invertebrates, the scales of fishes, the shields of turtles, and the feathers, hair, and hoofs of the higher vertebrates. The = endoskeleton = (with which we have to deal at present) is embedded in the soft tissues. It is derived chiefly from the mesoderm, but includes the notochord or primitive axial skeleton, which is of entodermal origin.