Projecting in an anterior direction from the vestibule is the cochlea, which is a bony structure that twists on itself two and one-half to two and three-quarter times around a central column of bone (the modiolus). This arrangement produces a cone-shaped structure with a base of the cochlea that faces posteromedially and an apex that faces anterolaterally (Fig. 8.130). This positions the wide base of the modiolus near the internal acoustic meatus, where it is entered by branches of the cochlear part of the vestibulocochlear nerve [VIII].