410 Zoological Society. 



canal, and, almost from its apex, a strong column of bone which 

 runs backwards extending behind the foramen ovale, which it quite 

 converts into a canal. 



The auditory bulla, although, from the rough flat surface which 

 it presents, it scarcely merits that name, yet may be perceived to 

 show the same essential character as in the Weasels, which is, that it 

 rises suddenly on the inner side at once to its greatest prominence, 

 and is then flattened off towards the meatus, which is rather pro- 

 longed. The course of the internal carotid artery, as indicated by 

 the canal excavated for it in the bone, is as follows : — it enters by a 

 true canalis caroticus excavated in the bone of the ear, commencing 

 quite behind, in the same fissure in which open the foramen jugulare 

 and the aperture through which the nervus vagus issues from the 

 skull, and extending forwards in a slightly arched direction again 

 emerges anteriorly, and curving round, enters the cranium in a 

 backward direction through a round foramen between the sphenoid 

 bone and that of the ear, close to the aperture from which the 

 Eustachian tube would issue, and corresponding to the foramen 

 lacerum anterius ; there is a distinct foramen glenoideum, although 

 opening rather more inwardly than usual ; the mastoid and parocci- 

 pital processes are both largely developed, and, owing to the very 

 slight projection of the auditory bulla, stand out very distinct and 

 prominent ; the foramen condyloideum anterius occupies an exposed 

 situation ; the foramen condyloideum posterius I have never seen 

 in any skull but the human, and there it is said to be sometimes 

 wanting. The characters presented by the lower jaw in the Bears 

 are essentially those most usual, though not quite constant, among 

 the Weasel group ; the angular process is pushed up very near to 

 the condyle, and much flattened beneath ; the form of the coronoid 

 process is somewhat that of the true Weasels, but owing to the 

 jaws being in the Bear more pushed forwards relatively to the 

 situation of the cranial cavity than in the Weasels, this process is 

 more pushed backward to meet the temporal muscle, which is spread 

 over the sides of the cranium. With regard to the little process 

 projecting beneath and anterior to the angle of the jaw, it is a mere 

 superaddition, which appears again in the Cercoleptes caudivolvulus 

 among the subursine group, and also in the Otocyon Lalandii and the 

 Nyctereutes procyonoides among the Dogs, in these having the form 

 of a large vertical lamina, projecting from the lower surface of the 

 jaw ; it is also seen like a second angular process in the Seal, so 

 that I should not feel inclined to assign to it more than a generic 

 value. 



The small group of plantigrade Carnivora known to naturalists as 

 the " Subursine group," I will reserve for consideration by and by, 

 and proceed to characterize the Weasel group, the subfamily Mus- 

 telina of Mr. Gray. 



In this group the pterygoid appendages very seldom manifest any 

 tendency to form a fossa, although in many species the outer surface 

 is rough and marked with ridges for muscular attachment ; from 

 behind is continued most usually a ridge which runs backwards and 



