Osteochondromas of the cervical spine are rare. Two cases are described, both originating from the second cervical vertebra, one localized to the spine and the other to the anterior aspect of the body of the vertebra. The examinations carried out and the treatment are reported.

The first reported case of an extraosseous osteogenic carcinoma of the parotid gland is presented. The head and neck region is an unusual site for these unusual neoplasms, with approximately 5 per cent of all extraosseous osteogenic sarcomas originating in the soft tissues of the face and neck

The neoplasms may arise after a latent period following radiation therapy. The majority, however, arise de novo. As a group, extraosseous osteogenic sarcomas are very aggressive and lethal neoplasms with an average 5-year survival of 15.6 per cent (Rao et al., 1978)

Abstract Heterotopic salivary tissue and branchial sinuses occur not infrequently (Goddman et al., 1981; Stingle and Priebe, 1974), caused probably by heteroplasia within remants of the second cleft (Stingle, 1974). Bilateral lesions which presented clinically as branchial cleft sinuses have been removed from a patient's neck; both of them proved to be branchial cleft sinuses with elements of slivary tissue.

The paper describes sailvary tissue and branchial sinuses along the anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid muscle on both sides of the neck and bilateral preauricular fistulae occurring in a boy and probably in his sister.

Oral malignant melanoma is rare and has a poor prognosis. We report a case of melanoma of the lower alveolus with rapid spread to the cervical lymph nodes and breast. Metastasis was diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology. The literature on oral melanoma is also reviewed.