ALISPHENOID CANAL IN CIVETS AND HYENAS. 



445 



that orifice as in Viverricida, as may be shown by cutting away 

 the wall of the canal. 



" The arrangement above described is, so far as my observations 

 go, much more obvious in the Spotted Hysena (Crocuta) than in 

 the Striped Hysena (Hycena). In both genera there may be no 

 trace of the posterior orifice, but in Hycena this orifice, when 

 present, is apparently always quite small and never completes the 

 canal. The foramen rotundum, moreover, is set more forwards, 

 so that to all intents and purposes it opens direct into the 

 temporal fossa as in the Felidpe." 



Text-fi^■ure 2. 



/ 2 



A.M. 



Lett cranial foramina of Crocuta (Spotted Hyaina) with zygoma cut away. 

 1. optic foramen ; 3. sphenoidal fissure {foramen lacerum. anticum) ; 4. fora- 

 men ovale; A. 31. auditory meatus ; ah' anterior orifice of alisphenoid canal ; 

 aV^. partially obliterated posterior orifice of the canal. 



The same with the outer wall of thealisphenoid canal {als ) cut away, exposing 

 the foramen rotundum (3) opening- into it and showing the poste<'ior orifice 

 of the canal al.- with its minute foramen, shut off by bone from the main 

 portion of the canal. When this bone is absent, the canal is complete from 

 end to end. 



