The chorda tympani joins the lingual branch of the mandibular nerve [V3] in the infratemporal fossa and passes with it into the oral cavity. On the external surface of the hyoglossus muscle, preganglionic parasympathetic fibers leave the inferior aspect of the lingual nerve to synapse with postganglionic parasympathetic fibers in the submandibular ganglion, which appears to hang off the lingual nerve (Fig. 8.267). Postganglionic parasympathetic fibers leave the ganglion and pass directly to the submandibular and sublingual glands while others hop back onto the lingual nerve and travel with branches of the lingual nerve to target glands.