Cranial Characters, &c., of the Snow-Leopard. 309 
The only obvious differences between the two skulls are 
the greater elevation of the forehead between the postorbital 
processes and the deeper depression at the base of the muzzle 
above in Gray’s example. These differences are probably 
attributable to differences of age. However that may be, 
the closeness of the resemblances suggests that the specimen 
in the Zoological Society had attained practically its perma- 
nent form in the characters mentioned below, the more 
important of which are those cited as distinctive of F. uncia 
in comparison with F. leo, tigris, pardus, and onca, the 
species to which, as I have recently shown*, F. uncia is 
affiliated by the structure of the hyoid bone. 
The principal cranial features of F. leo, tigris, pardus, and 
onea can be verified in any museum of repute. Those of 
F. uncia are, generally speaking, similar, but the skull is 
relatively broader, shorter, and more vaulted, being elevated 
between the postorbital processes and sloped and some- 
what lynx-like in the muzzle, which is depressed posteriorly 
above. There is no evidence of the development of a 
strong sagittal crest or of a deep constriction behind or in 
front of the short blunt postorbital processes. The orbits 
are comparatively large in relation to the temporal fossz 
and the posterior portions of the zygomata are not markedly 
salient. The upper end of the maxilla is long, acutely 
angled, and projects very noticeably farther back than the 
broad and short nasals. The straightness and inclination 
of the fronto-maxillary-nasal suture, the form of the pre- 
maxill, the plane of the anterior nares, the flatness of the 
cheek above the carnassial, the height of the lacrymal bone 
above the foramen, the large size of the anteorbital foramen 
as compared with the palatal foramen of the orbit, are 
practically as in the other species mentioned above. The 
mesopterygoid fossa is nearly paraliel-sided, the hamulars 
only converge slightly posteriorly, the anterior angles are 
rounded, the anterior border transverse, with two small 
spines and a small median notch. The palate is moderately 
prolonged and narrow posteriorly, and the postero-lateral 
borders of the palate show an angular emargination passing 
in front of the line of the molar (fig. 1). 
The most marked characters of the skull are found in the 
occipital region. The basioccipital is deeply excavated up 
against the bulla, the anterior end of the excavation deepening 
into a pit holding a thick muscular tendon (fig. 1). The 
foramen magnum is higher than wide, with a very thick 
* Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) vol. xviii. p. 221-229 (1916), 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 8. Vol. xviii. 21 
