430 MR. A. H. G. DORAN ON THE MORPHOLOGY 



curved, and bearing a distinct, pedunculated, elliptical Sylvian apophysis. The stapes 

 is quite triangular, with a small head and slender crura, which are almost equal and not 

 very divergent. There is generally a trace of a tubercle on the head of the stapes for 

 the stapedius tendon. 



There is no distinctive feature between any of the ossicula in Cervus elaphus, C. axis, 

 C. mexicamts, C. pudu, Dama vulgaris or Capreolus caprea. In Cervulus muntjac the 

 lamina of the malleus is very wide, and, contrary to Hyrtl's assertion, the stapes (in the 

 College collection) is by no means thoroughly triangular ; nor can any trace of the pear- 

 shaped tuberosity described by that author be seen in the specimens examined by me. 



In Hydropotes inermis the ossicula are identical in form with those of Cervus ; the 

 same applies to two sets of the ear-bones of Moschus moschiferus (figs. 33, 42) from two 

 different skulls in the College collection. The shallow-bodied incus, with its long, stout, 

 divergent processus brevis, is strikingly distinct from the square-bodied, short-limbed 

 incus of Tragulus (PI. LXI. fig. 8). 



The Ossicula op the Proboscidea. 



The malleus of Mephas (PL LX. figs. 38, 39) is the largest seen in any terrestrial 

 animal, measuring nearly an inch in length from the head to the tip of the manubrium. 

 The portion of the head above the articular surface is not much developed, either 

 superiorly or anteriorly ; it is smooth and globular, and widest from behind forwards. 

 The articular area is shallow and wide vertically ; its facets, which are only slightly 

 convex, run into each other even more insensibly than in Man, not a trace of a groove 

 dividing them. The neck is of a very peculiar form. It is very broad and flattened 

 laterally, and bent strongly outwards on itself. The segment above the bend is formed 

 of rather spongy bone, with a very irregular surface, generally marked with more than 

 one nutrient foramen ; posteriorly is a sharp ridge of the same sigmoid form as that seen 

 in Homo ; and anteriorly a thin splinter-like processus gracilis is given off without a 

 lamina. The lower half of the neck is of very compact bone, smooth on the surface ; 

 it gives off the manubrium at a little more than a right angle. The handle is of the 

 same stoutness as the lower portion of the neck ; it is rather short, broad at the base 

 which bears a prominent everted processus brevis, flattened laterally, and moderately 

 recurved at the tip, There is a distinct sharply bordered outer surface to the manu- 

 brium ; but it is narrow, and very little dilated towards the extremity. 



This bone is the most distinctive by far of the three ossicula in the Elephant. The wide, 

 shallow articular surface is seen among the larger R/uminants ; but the breadth and short- 

 ness of the manubrium distinguish it from that of any Ungulate. There is no lamina ; 

 but the anterior part of the less dense upper segment of the neck probably represents it *, 

 especially as the sigmoid ridge behind that part represents the entire neck of a laminated 

 malleus. The manubriurn recalls a form not rare in the Rodents ; but in this great 

 animal there is no trace of any processus muscularis, the tensor tympani being 

 attached to a tubercular elevation on the angle formed by the bend of the neck. I had 

 the advantage of dissecting the internal ear of the old female Indian Elephant that died 



* See remarks on the malleus of Sus, PMcochoerus, and Hippopotamus. 



