232 THE SKULL. [CHAP. 



with its aperture directed upwards and backwards. The 

 zygoma is complete. The pterygoids are small, and send 

 no horizontal plates inwards to complete the bony palate, as 

 in the Anteater. The mandible has a well-marked ascending 

 posterior portion, supporting a transversely extended con- 

 dyle, and a high, slender coronoid process. 



In all the other genera of Armadillos, Chlamydophorus 

 excepted, the tympanic is a mere half-ring, loosely connected 

 with the surrounding bones. 



The hyoid arch is strongly ossified. The anterior cornu 

 consists of three bones. The thyrohyals ankylose with the 

 basihyal. 



In the Scaly Anteaters or Pangolins (genus Manis), the 

 skull is somewhat in the form of an elongated cone, with 

 the small end turned forwards, and very smooth and free 

 from crests and ridges. The occipital plane slopes upwards 

 and forwards. There is no distinction between the orbit and 

 the temporal fossa, which together form a small oval depres- 

 sion near the middle of the side of the skull. There are 

 short zygomatic processes on the maxilla and the squa- 

 mosal, but the arch is incomplete in most species, owing to 

 the absence of the malar. There is likewise no distinct 

 lacrymal bone. The plane of the anterior narial aperture 

 looks forwards and upwards. The premaxilla is produced 

 along the side of the nasals towards, but not reaching, the 

 frontals. The palate is long and narrow. The pterygoids 

 extend backwards as far as the tympanics, but do not meet 

 in the middle line below. The tympanic is ankylosed to 

 the surrounding bones, and more or less bullate, but not 

 produced into a tubular auditory meatus. The hinder 

 part of the squamosal is often dilated with air-cells, 

 forming a rounded prominence at the outer posterior angle 

 of the skull. 



