10 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 134 
the lachrymal bone formed by the above notch. The jugal is compara- 
tively deep and strong, articulates in a much-extended contact with 
the maxilla below and inward, and shows almost no evidence of a 
postorbital process. Posteriorly, the squamosal portion of the zygoma 
is particularly deep and sturdy. The transversely elongate postglenoid 
process extends strongly downward and forward, forming with a 
prominent process on the outer part of the anterior margin of the 
glenoid fossa a combination which almost locks the condyle of the 
lower jaw in place. Unfortunately the mastoid and exoccipital por- 
tions of the skull are incomplete ; however, sufficient remains to note 
that the posterior profile of the occiput is nearly vertical beneath the 
inion. 
The orbits of Patriofelis ulta are not large but are decidedly dorsal 
in their position on the face. This is effected by the flattened to con- 
cave frontal area between them and by the deep zygomae below. Not 
only are the orbits high but the plane of the orbital rim faces decidedly 
upward because of the outward sweep of the jugal. The anterior 
margin of the orbit is well forward, about over the middle or anterior 
portion of P*. 
It is only in the orbital fossa that there is any evidence of dorsoven- 
tral compression of the skull; nevertheless, the noticeable fracturing 
and distortion are not so severe that details of the foramina penetrat- 
ing bone in this area cannot be determined, although certain of the 
sutures are obscured. The large posterior opening of the infraorbital 
canal is just below and slightly median to the lachrymal foramen, at 
the anterior apex of the orbital plate of the maxilla. Posterior to the 
infraorbital opening, a little over 2 centimeters, and about on the 
same level, there is a large, anteroposteriorly elongate sphenopalatine 
foramen, and immediately below the latter is a much smaller, though 
prominent, posterior palatine foramen. 
In the posterior portion of the orbital fossa, a separate optic fora- 
men seems indicated by an opening about 14 centimeters anterior and 
dorsal to the sphenoidal fissure. The large sphenoidal fissure, directly 
below the most constricted portion of the cranium, evidently trans- 
mitted not only the third, fourth, first branch of the fifth, and sixth 
cranial nerves as customary, but also the second branch of the fifth 
or trigeminal, inasmuch as the foramen rotundum does not appear 
to have become separated from the sphenoidal fissure (Wortman be- 
lieved them separate), at least not externally, in this group of animals. 
Moreover, the sphenoidal fissure must also have transmitted the ex- 
ternal carotid artery, as the anterior opening of the alisphenoid canal, 
which, when present as in modern bears and dogs, opens into the 
