164 



the palatal and maxillary elements cannot he distinguisherl, and 

 that between the maxilla and the premaxilla only indistinctly so. 

 Two small and slit-like posterior palatine foramina can be made 

 out in the wet skull (spirit) which transmit small nerves, but they 

 are not distinguishable in the dry. The anterior palatine foram- 

 ina are large and elongated. Besides these there are, in the hard 

 palate, other smaller foramina irregularly placed, as well as 

 several small circular or oval areas w^here the bone is much 

 thinned. The posterior nares are compressed in a vertical direc- 

 tion. 



With regard to the foramina of the base of the skull, the small 

 size of the parts and the impossibility of distinguishing the 

 sutures make it a little difficult to be sure of their position. 

 The condylar and posterior lacerated foramina can, how^ever, be 

 distinguished in the usual situation, and the large canal for the 

 carotid artery pierces the basiphenoid and passes almost directly 

 upwards. The foramen ovale, foramen rotundum and sphenoidal 

 fissure are all distinct, the latter two being approximately of the 

 same size and both larger than the first. I could detect no separ- 

 ate aperture corresponding to the optic foramen. 



A view of the inside of the cranium, through the foramen 

 magnum, shows a relatively large and smooth-walled cavity, of a 

 shape conformable to the external contour of the skull — the 

 bones of the vault being so thin that, with the aid of a hand 

 lens, small type can be distinctly read through them. The floor 

 of the cranial ca\T.ty, more or less flat, though rough at its hinder 

 part, rises in front of the basisphenoid region into a well-marked 

 eminence, which slopes away on either side. Anterior to this 

 again, the floor is flat. The auditory bulla seems to project 

 internally, and shows itself as a thin-walled hollow eminence 

 lying in front of what appears to be the petrous element of 

 the periotic, but as I have wished to preserve the specimens in- 

 tact, I cannot be certain of its exact relations, or of other details 

 of the skull which are not accessible to examination without 

 sections. 



In the mandible the rami are relatively wide, and widest in 

 the molar region, narrowing somewhat in front and behind. The 

 front part of the inferior border slopes gradually upwards to- 

 wards the symphysis, at which the two halves are firmly anky- 

 losed. At about the width of a molar tooth behind the last of 

 the series, the upper border of the jaw rises almost vertically 

 into a strong triangular coronoid process, which has an 

 anterior surface in the form of a laterally compressed isosceles 

 triangle, having for its base the width of the rather wide 

 alveolar border. This surface is vertically grooved, and 

 posteriorly to it, the process is suddenly narrowed to a flat 



