86 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



IX. 



ON THE CONDITION OF THE AUDITORY 

 OSSICLES OF A SYNOTIC CYCLOPIAN 

 LAMB. 



BY R. BROOM, B.SC. 



[Read 30th April, 1889.] 



Through the kindness of Mr. Henry M'Culloch, 

 the well-known preserver of animals and birds, I 

 recently" obtained the skull of a synotic cyclopian 

 lamb. A number of similar monsters have been 

 described from time to time, but I do not think 

 sufficient attention has been given to the condition 

 of the auditory ossicles in this form of abnormality, 

 as such an examination throws some light on the 

 origin of these bones. 



Before describing the ossicles in detail, 1 think it 

 better to give a short account of the structure of 

 the skull in general. This consists of a well- 

 developed cranium with a median orbit, and with 

 most of the anterior and inferior parts altogether 

 abnormal. 



The large orbit is very shallow, and is bounded 

 behind by the flat undivided median orbitosphenoid, 

 which is present as an inverted triangular plate 

 with the optic foramen in the middle line a little 

 above the inferior angle, and with the sphenoidal 

 fissures at the sides. In the upper half the orbit is 

 bounded by the frontal ; in the lower, by the united 

 malars and by a thin fascia separating it from the 

 united temporal fossae. 



The lower jaws are entirely absent, and the facial 

 bones are reduced to a small triangular bony mass 



