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canal, and, almost from its apex, a strong column of bone which 
runs backwards extending behind the foramen ovale, which it quite 
converts into a canal. 
’ The auditory bulla, although, from the rough flat surface which 
it presents, it scarcely merits that name, yet may be perceived to 
show the same essential character as in the Weasels, which is, that it 
rises suddenly on the inner side at once to its greatest prominence, 
and is then flattened off towards the meatus, which is rather pro- 
longed. The course of the internal carotid artery, as indicated by 
the canal excavated for it in the bone, is as follows :—it enters by a 
true canalis caroticus excavated in the bone of the ear, commencing 
quite behind, in the same fissure in which open the foramen jugulare 
ana the aperture through which the nervus vagus issues from the 
skull, and extending forwards in a slightly arched direction again 
emerges anteriorly, and curving round, enters the cranium in a 
backward direction through a round foramen between the sphenoid 
bone and that of the ear, close to the aperture from which the 
Eustachian tube would issue, and corresponding to the foramen 
lacerum anterius; there is a distinct foramen glenoideum, although 
opening rather more inwardly than usual; the mastoid and parocci- 
pital processes are both largely developed, and, owing to the very 
slight projection of the auditury bulla, stand out very distinct and 
prominent; the foramen condyloideum anterius occupies an exposed 
situation; the foramen condyloideum posterius I have never seen 
in any skull but the human, and there it is said to be sometimes 
wanting. ‘The characters presented by the lower jaw in the Bears 
are essentially those most usual, though not quite constant, among 
the Weasel group; the angular process is pushed up very near to 
the condyle, and much flattened beneath; the form of the coronoid 
process is somewhat that of the true Weasels, but owing to the 
jaws being in the Bear more pushed forwards relatively to the 
situation of the cranial cavity than in the Weasels, this process is 
more pushed backward to meet the temporal muscle, which is spread 
over the sides of the cranium. With regard to the little process 
projecting beneath and anterior to the angle of the jaw, it is a mere 
superaddition, which appears again in the Cercoleptes caudivolvulus 
among the subursine group, and also in the Otocyon Lalandii and the 
Nyctereutes procyonoides among the Dogs, in these having the form 
of a large vertical lamina, projecting from the lower surface of the 
jaw; it is also seen like a second angular process in the Seal, so 
that I should not feel inclined to assign to it more than a generic 
value. 
The small group of plantigrade Carnivora known to naturalists as 
the ‘‘ Subursine group,” I wall reserve for consideration by and by, 
and proceed to characterize the Weasel group, the subfamily Mus- 
telina of Mr. Gray. 
In this group the pterygoid appendages very seldom manifest any 
tendency to form a fossa, although in many species the outer surface 
is rough and marked with ridges for muscular attachment; from 
behind is continued most usually a ridge which runs backwards and 
