228 On the Hyoidean Apparatus of the Licn oe 
Feles one from another are less easily appreciable than in” 
their outward form. Perhaps the most marked among the 
anatomical variations obtains in the mode of attachment of 
the os hyotdes to the cranium ; and this difference is evinced 
in the living animal by a difference in the variety and power 
of the voice. Jn the lion an elastic ligament, about 6 inches 
in length, connects on each side the lesser cornu [ceratohyal | 
of the os hyotdes with the styloid process ; this ligament can 
be stretched to 8 or 9 inches. The larynx is consequently 
situated at a considerable distance from the posterior margin 
of the bony palate ; but the soft palate is prolonged back- 
wards to opposite the aperture of the glottis, and the tongue 
is proportionately increased in length. Thus a gradually 
expanding passage leads from the glottis, where the air is 
rendered sonorous, to the mouth, and it is not unlikely that 
the strong transverse ridges upon the bony palate may con- 
tribute, with the preceding trumpet-like structure, to give 
that intonation which is so aptly denominated ‘the roar of 
the lion.’ 
“In the domestic Cat, in Felis planiceps, and in Felis 
caracal the os hyoides is connected with the cranium... . 
by an uninterrupted chain of bones.... The same structure 
obtains in the Cheetah. From the difference in the voice, 
the feline animals might have been expected, & priori, to 
present some differences in that part of their anatomy which 
relates to it.” 
In this passage Owen was, I believe, the first to point out 
the connection between the resonance of the voice and the 
looseness of the hyoid in the lion. The same applies to the 
tiger, the roar of which, used solely, I believe, as a sexual 
call, is deceptively like that of the lion at times. On the 
other hand, the roars of the jaguar and leopard are quite 
different from those of the lion and tiger, but remarkably 
like one another. It is not easy to describe them, but I have 
elsewhere (P. Z. 8S. 1907, p. 677) compared the sound to 
‘a series of hoarse barking coughs, an interval of about one 
second separating each expiratory effort. It very much 
resembles the sound produced by sawing a piece of thin wood 
with a coarse-toothed saw” *. The voice of the ounce is 
unknown to me. ‘The only sound I have heard these animals 
make results from puffing throngh the nostrils. The tiger 
has a similar habit when pleased. The voice of other 
members of the Felidee cannot be described asa roar. The 
* The name “jaguar” is, I presume, derived from the roar of the 
animal, of which it is not a bad representation, 
