Skulls of the Felidge atid Vivevrido?. 2fi7 



do not know whether or not this grooA^e marks the course of 

 the artery, althoujijh the similarity of this groove to that 

 of the Viverridae suggests that it does so. The canal fre- 

 quently shows on the inside of the bulla as an upstanding 

 ridge resembling, but relatively smaller than, that of 

 Cy nog ale. 



Tlie artery enters the skull by a small narrow foramen, 

 notching the basisphenoid where it touches the periotic. 

 This orifice, visible in all the skulls of Felidse examined, is 

 the fo7'ame7i lacerum medium, and it corresponds exactly with 

 that of Viverra and Genettn ; but to discover it the bulla 

 has to be removed, because it lies deep beneath the anterior 

 end of the bulla, which at that point is immovably fused to 

 the basisphenoid, and the only orifice at the antero-internal 

 angle of the bulla is the internal orifice of the eustachian 

 tube. 

 ■* In this connection it may be recalled that Mivart (' The 

 Cat,' p. 208, 1881) said that the minute internal carotid 

 artery enters i\\e foramen lacerum posticum, and passes along 

 a slender canal between the basioccipital, basisphenoid, and 

 the periotic, and enters the cranial cavity at the inner side 

 of the anterior end of the periotic. This appears to be per- 

 fectly correct, but it is difiicult to reconcile with his subse- 

 quent statement (P. Z. S. 1882, p. 145) that it is distinctive 

 of the Felidse as compared with the Viverridse to have no 

 carotid foramen perforating or notching the sphenoid. 

 Nevertheless, as has been shown above, the basisphenoid is 

 penetrated by a notch by which the carotid enters the skull 

 close to the periotic in the Felidae and all the typical 

 Viverridae. In fact, there does not appear to be any material 

 difference between Fells and Nandinia with respect to the 

 course of this artery and the foramina connected therewith. 



Conclusion. 



The above-mentioned facts have been described in some 

 detail to show, first, the variation in the structure of the 

 carotid canal and in the situation of the foramina connected 

 with the artery in the genera referred by Mivart, Flower, 

 and others to the Viverridae, and, second, the impossibility 

 of logically drawing a line, based upon the characters under 

 notice, between the Viverridae, as understood by those 

 authors, and the Felidae. The facts may be briefly sum- 

 marized as follows : — 



(1) In the Viverridae the posterior orifice of the canal 

 may be far forwards and only a short distance behind the 

 foramen lacerum medium {Paguma^ Diplogale), or near the 



