134 THE SKULL. [chap. 



under surface is produced into a rough ridge, to the inner 

 side of which the large carotid canal perforates the base of 

 the periotic, being directed obliquely forwards and inwards. 

 In adult skulls the stylohyal becomes ankylosed with the 

 tympanic and periotic, constituting the " styloid process of 

 the temporal bone." 



In examining the external aspect of the skull, the large 

 smooth subglobular or oval brain-case, constituting by far the 

 larger part of the whole cranium, is strikingly different from 

 that of the Dog. The occipital surface, instead of being ver- 

 tical, is nearly horizontal. The condyles, instead of being at 

 the hindermost part of the skull, are not far from the middle 

 of the base. The paroccipital process of the exoccipitals 

 are represented by mere rudiments, the so-called "jugular 

 eminences;" on the other hand, the mastoid processes, 

 almost obsolete in the Dog, are very greatly developed. The 

 occipital crest is represented by a slightly raised and rough- 

 ened line, the " superior curved line," and the sagittal crest 

 is absent. 



The sutures connecting the bones of the upper surface 

 of the cranium are remarkable for their wavy or indented 

 character, processes from one bone interlocking with those 

 from the other in a most complex manner, at least on the 

 external surface, for seen from within they appear com- 

 paratively straight and simple. There are very often 

 irregular ossifications, separated from the contiguous bones, 

 lying among the indentations of the occipito-parietal suture, 

 called "Wormian bones." 1 The' temporal fossae are but 

 indistinctly marked out by a curved line above, and are 

 separated from each other by a wide expanse formed 



1 In works on human anatomy, the occipito-parietal suture is com- 

 monly cal'ed " lambdoid ; " the interparietal, "sagittal;" and the 

 fronto-parietal, ' ■ coron ll. " 



