key_ 2_ 1_ caudal___SLIDE 6 ___rostral_ 1_ 2_ key

This view shows our color code for the cranial nerves.

Most books describe the the vestibular and auditory nuclei as part of a "special somatic afferent (SSA)" cell column, grouping them with olfactory and optic structures. - see, for example Blumenfeld's Table 12.4 on Page 470. This doesn't seem like a logical grouping to us, so we drop the SSA category and refer to trigeminal sensory structures as simply "somatic afferent. Unfortunately, we have not been entirely consistent in this and the terms SSA and GVA do creep into some figures.