460 DR. J. MURIE ON SAIGA TARTARICA. [June 9, 
obtains in the Ruminant skull; including the short-nasaled Elk. 
As already intimated, they are set in a plane horizontal to the ante- 
rior portion of the frontals, though, from the descending sweep which 
the maxillaries take, the nasals appear to have a more upward cast 
than they in reality possess. Their upper surface is smooth and - 
convex, the fronto-nasal suture being nearly transverse. The anterior 
free borders are rough for the attachment of the nasal cartilages; and 
on each outer corner is a small subquadrangular wing-piece, 0°3 inch 
in diameter, which inferiorly is suturally connected with the lachry- 
mal. No portion whatsoever of the maxillary or premaxillary bones 
is in conjunction with the nasals ; in this respect, therefore, they differ 
materially from those of most Ruminants. Even Alces americana, 
distinguished by shortened nasals and preemaxillz, does not agree with 
Saiga, as its maxille and nasal bones are partially coadapted, 
although the preemaxille are widely apart from the latter. 
Examined from in front, the ethmoid and turbinate bones are 
large and sinuous, the inferior turbinate, especially, being tilted at 
an acute angle upwards and forwards. A small portion of their 
anterior ends projects beyond the interior border of the lachrymal ; 
and to this inferior turbinate portion the upper lateral nasal carti- 
lage is partially adherent. In spite of the very diminished length 
of the nasals, it is to be observed that their tips reach a point per- 
pendicular to the infraorbital foramina or anterior true molar, the 
latter, as to a certain extent is the case in the true goats, being 
as it were, thrust backwards relatively to the facial region. 
The development of the lachrymal bone is peculiar and note- 
worthy. In some senses, by its great vertical depth, does it give 
that strange aspect in profile to Saiga which elevates, as it were, 
the nasal region of the animal; while at the same time, by its more 
than ordinary enlargement, the lachrymal entirely excludes the 
maxillaries from reaching the nasals, as obtains in all the other artio- 
dactyla. In shape, the lachrymal (Z) is irregularly contoured, 
though it exhibits a tendency to a quadrate figure, divided, how- 
ever, by a portion of the raised thin orbital ring. 
The cheek-surface is more or less impressed by three concavities, 
the chief of which is the ante- or suborbital fossa. This is obovate, 
shallowish, but broad, and lies at the inferior border of the bone; 
above it is a small osseous tubercle. The fossa contains the so-called 
crumen or suborbital gland. About a sixth share of the ring and inner 
orbital plate is constituted by the lachrymal. The foramen for the 
lachrymal duct pierces the bone within and just beneath the ante- 
orbital angle. The superior border of the lachrymal joins the fron- 
tal, and barely touches the middle outer border of the os nasi. Be- 
low, the lachrymal intrudes into the maxillary, as in Antelopes and 
Sheep, agreeing with the former, however, inthe angular abutment 
ofthe piece. To the narial side of the ascending process of the 
maxillary an inlaid splint of the lachrymal descends; and the root 
of this is pierced by a large foramen (« fig. 4), wherein the lachry- 
mal sac is lodged. This opening, in the fresh condition of the parts, 
is overlain by the sesamoid nasal cartilage (Ss, fig. 5) ; whilst the 
