302 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. 



Dcscrijytion of the skull and teeth. (See Plate XVII.) 



The lateral view of the skull shows its most characteristic 

 shape in its general depression, the flatness ou top, and the short- 

 ness of the blunt muzzle. In the adult, the dorsal profile, from 

 occiput to end of nasals, approximates to a straight line; in 

 younger examples, the frontal outline is also about straight, but 

 the cranial ])orti()n arches a little, and then curves down to the 

 occiput. The profile of the nasal orifice is sinuous, con^•ex 

 above, concave below. The rostrum is only about one-fifth of 

 the total length of the skull. The anteorbital foramen is widely 

 open, obliquely elliptical in shape, and only bridged over by a 

 slender process of the root of the zygoma ; its obliquity of posi- 

 tion is so great that, viewed from above, it presents within the 

 orbit instead of before it. The orbit is small, subcircular, and 

 well defined, not only by an acute malar process of the zygoma, 

 but by a very prominent supraorbital j)rocess, these two to- 

 gether completing more than two-thirds of the circumference 

 of a circle. The zygoma is not very strong; it is moderately 

 arched upward, with quite an abrupt rise near the middle, rather 

 than a regtdar general curve. The glenoid appears rather far 

 forward ou its posterior root. The orifice of the meatus audi- 

 torius is small, and high uj) in a deep recess between the glenoid 

 and mastoid ; the latter is notably large and prominent. 



Viewed from above, the skull displays the great brevity and 

 obtuseness of the rostrum already mentioned. This' seems to 

 be due, in a measure at least, to the anterior position of the 

 orbits, and the forward encroachment of the broad flat anterior 

 roots of the zygoma; other topographical points are less dif- 

 ferent from an ordinary Musteline type. The sides of the ros- 

 trum are about parallel, its width is fully equal to its length. 

 Just in front of the orbital brim, at its upper corner, is seen a 

 well-marked depression. The interorbital area is a broad ele- 

 vated tablet, perfectly smooth and flat, bounded behind by the 

 forks of the sagittal crest, proceeding in curved lines from the 

 termination of the sagittal crest to the sui)raorbital processes. 

 All the surface of the skull behind these is roughened by 

 muscular impressions. Supraorbital processes are much more 

 largely developed than usual, acute, directly transverse. The 

 skull is nery narrow just behind these, the point of greatest 

 constriction being decidedly in advance of the middle of the 

 skull. From this point backward, the skull bulges considerably, 



