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



the Hedgehog ; and the processus gracilis is produced into a much more slender appen- 

 dage, which bears, however, a foramen for the passage of the chorda tympani. 



In the specimen in the College series of ossicula, the incus of Gymnura is extremely 

 like that of Erinaceus, hut the processus brevis is longer. 



The stapes in Gymnura has rather straighter crura and a broader base than in the 

 Hedgehog. I have not found any bony canal between the crura in the skulls examined 

 by me. 



In the Tenrec (Oentetes ecaudatus) the head of the malleus (PL LXII. fig. 11) re- 

 sembles that of the Hedgehog ; but the neck is shorter even than in Gymnura, and is 

 bent on itself into a sharp angle, as in Sorex. It bears a short processus muscularis, 

 and a very large, convex, but sessile, orbicular apophysis. The manubrium is quite 

 hedgehog -like, the lamina still narrower than in Raines's Gymnura; the processus 

 gracilis is perforated near the root of its free part beyond the lamina by a foramen 

 for the chorda tympani nerve. This ossicle in the Tenrec decidedly shows affinities to 

 Sorex. 



But the incus, otherwise like that of Erinaceus, has a well-developed and divergent 

 processus brevis. This is not the case in the Shrews and Moles, though it is observed in 

 Ericulus and, to a certain extent, in Gymnura. In the Macroscelidae and Tupaiidae this 

 process is more developed than in the Hedgehog ; but the body is higher than in that 

 animal and in Oentetes. 



The stapes is of the JErinaceus type ; the crura are slender and bowed, and not sepa- 

 rated by any bony canal in the recent skeleton ; the base is moderately broad. 



In Ericulus nigrescens (PL LXII. fig. 12) the malleus is more like that of Oentetes 

 than that of Erinaceus, the neck being short and sharply curved, and the lamina narrow. 

 The orbicular apophysis is not well developed ; and the processus muscularis is reduced 

 to a tubercle. The processus gracilis is perforated by a very distinct foramen for the 

 chorda tympani. 



The incus, as in Oentetes, has a body and processus longus similar to that of the 

 common Hedgehog ; but, as in the former animal, the processus brevis is rather long, 

 thin, and divergent. 



The stapes has a very broad base compared with that of Ermaceus ; the head and crura 

 are very similar in character. 



The malleus of Solenodon cubanum is much like that of Oentetes ; it has a prominent 

 orbicular apophysis and a much more developed processus muscularis than has Ericulus. 

 The free part of the processus gracilis is unfortunately broken off in the College 

 specimen. 



In the Macroscelidae the malleus assumes a characteristic form widely differing from 

 the types of Erinaceus and Sorex. 



In the Elephant Shrew (Macroscetides alexandri, PL LXII. fig. 15) the caput mallei 

 is ill-developed and much taken up by the articular surface, which is composed of two 

 very distinct facets separated by a sharp groove. The lower is nearly the size of the 

 upper and more anterior; both have a high vertical convexity running across them. 

 The neck is rather short and curved ; it is extremely constricted near the manubrium ; 



