Bones are the largest group of foreign bodies found in the air and food passages. Fishbones which lodge in the tonsil can be easily seen and removed relatively easily. Those lodging in the pyriform fossa are well localized by the patient and can usually be seen on mirror examination.

It would be useful to know which types of fishbones are radio-opaque and therefore likely to be shown by radiographs when mirror examination is difficult or fails to reveal a foreign body. Therefore a study was undertaken to ascertain the radio-opacity of the bones of ten different species of fish eaten in the British Isles.

A patient presented with mild upper airway obstruction after being shot from behind through the neck and soft palate. Two days later he developed palsies of the IXth to XIIth cranial nerves inclusive on the traumatised side. These palsies resolved spontaneously after three weeks. Further investigation revealed the presence of a saccular aneurysm of the internal carotid artery. The internal carotid artery was ligated after gradual closure for three days using a Preston clamp.

Primary mucosal melanoma of the head and neck is rare and few published cases give proof that the mucosal site is primary. We present a man with malignant melanoma of the nasal cavity which was associated with melanoma-in-situ of the adjacent mucosa, proving that the lesion was primary. He presented with symptoms due to secondary deposits of melanoma in the brain rather than the more usual nose bleeds or blocked nose. The primary site wasfound when his neurological symptoms were investigated by CT and NMR scans of the head.

Haemangiopericytoma is an uncommon vascular tumour which has rarely been recorded in the larynx. The diagnostic and histopathological difficulties are discussed. A total laryngectomy was performed because of the size and site of the tumour, the associated risk of local recurrence and the high metastatic rate.

Facial nerve paralysis is a common otolaryngological diagnosis. Recurrent unilateral peripheral facial palsy is found in about 7 per cent of the cases. Simultaneous bilateral facial palsy is relatively uncommon and occurs in 0.3–2.0 per cent of cases of facial palsy. Recurrent. simultaneous, bilateral, idiopathic facial palsy to the best of our knowledge has never been reported. A case of recurrent, simultaneous, bilateral, idiopathic facial palsy is presented. No evidence of systemic or local disease was found in both attacks of peripheral facial palsies. The association with states of stress is the only common finding between the two attacks.