116 



SORICIDAE. 



Talpidaf. 



{Cranial foramina.) 



Ante-orbital foramen covered in by 

 a wide wall, very contracted at an- 

 terior entrance, and pocket-like in 

 front of orbit : 



Ante-orbital foramen arched over 

 by an oblique thread-like bridge, 

 and very open ; 



foramen rotundum and si)henoidal fissures coafluent in a single vacuity ; 

 carotid foramen developed ; 

 glenoid foramen none : 

 alispbenoid canal none. 



[Loicer jaiv.) 



Horizontal rami short and stout ; 

 ascending rami diverted outwards 

 and stout; tbe condyles directed ob- 

 liquely inwards and forwards, and 

 ending at the internal ends in acute 

 tubercles ; 



the coronoid processes stout, and 

 each with a pocket-like cavity at 

 the base. 



Horizontal rami elongated and 

 slender; ascending rami almost 

 erect and thin ; the condyles pro- 

 duced backwards, and developed 

 as small transerve knobs : 



tlie coronoid i^rocesses small, and 

 with no cavities at their bases. 



VERTEBRA. 



Vertebrfe : (?. 12 - 15 -f Z. 5 - 7 (=19-20) + s. 5 - 6. 



cervical with neurapophyses very 

 rudimentary; with hypapophyses 

 well developed ; 



dorsal with very small or (in front) 

 obsolete spinous processes ; 



cervical with neurapophyses nar- 

 row antero-posteriorly; with hypa- 

 pophyses obsolete; 



dorsal (except last 3 or 4) with 

 small spinous processes ; 



with well-developed anterolateral processes 



hyperapophyses well developed 



lumbar with 

 ossicles. 



no hypapophysial 



hyperapoijhyses obsolete ; 



lumbar with autogenous hypapo- 

 physial ossicles (beneath their in- 

 terspaces). 



FORE LIMB AND APPENDAGES. 



{Scapula.) 



Scapula rather short and broad, 

 with its distal margin obliquely 

 truncated, but with rounded an- 

 gles. 



Scapula very long and narrow, 

 with its distal portion abruptly en- 

 larged and more or less clavate. 



{Clavicle.) 



Clavicle quite long, slender, and 

 simply arched (nearly uniform in 

 all the genera examined). 



Clavicle more or less short, ro- 

 bust, and quite straight (varying 

 greatly otherwise in the several 

 forms). 



