483 Zoological Society, 



in accordance with that type. The masseteric ridge reaches to within 

 half an inch of the orbit, and above the zygoma is a distinct indication 

 of the foramen usually existing there in Ruminants. The glenoid 

 surface is slightly convex anteriorly, and terminated behind by a di- 

 stinct post-articular process, on to which the articulating surface is 

 continued without intermission, thus indicating the animal to be ru- 

 minant, but removing it from the CamelidcB. The pterygoid ridge 

 terminates in an angle, which, however, is not prolonged into a pro- 

 cess ; from this angle there is no transverse lamina extending down to 

 join the pterygoid process, and consequently no pterygoid fossa. Th3 

 articulating surfaces of the occipital condyles seem to extend on t ) 

 the processes anterior to them ; the auditory bulla is rounded, but 

 as the state of the specimens will not permit any definite character to 

 be drawn from it, I will not venture an opinion as to which family of 

 Ruminants should claim this remarkable form. 



Among the remaining families, I have noticed that in the MoschidxB 

 and CervidcB the styloid process becomes free almost immediately at 

 the base of the auditory process, while in the Bovidce or Cavicorn 

 Ruminants, it is enclosed more or less completely for some distance 

 in the downward and forward direction. The Cervidce may also 

 be distinguished from the latter by the form of the infraorbital 

 depression, which has its most sudden sinkage on the upper side, or 

 that which is next the infraorbital fissure. The Giraife, although it 

 has neither the depression nor the fissure, resembles the Cei'vidce in 

 the character of the auditory bulla, and in having the molar teeth ex- 

 panded at the base of the crown, and compressed towards the summits 

 of the lobes. The Moschidw must, of course, be distinguished from 

 the Cervidce by their trilocular stomach, and by the presence of the 

 gall-bladder*, and it is probable that further differences in their in- 

 ternal anatomy may yet be found ; I must however revert to the 

 subject of dentition to point out some characters in which they differ 

 from all other Ruminants, and agree with the non-ruminant Artiodac- 

 tyla. In these, as well as in some of the Musk-deer, the premolars, and 

 those that represent them among the milk series, assume a trenchant 

 form, and have a more or less developed additional cusp both before and 

 behind ; this little cusp also shows itself upon the anterior extremity 

 of the penultimate upper milk tooth, which, as well as the last one, 

 has the bipartite form of a true molar, and therefore by this combi- 

 nation of characters may be recognised if found alone. In most Ru- 

 minants the cusp is very small, and when worn down shows itself 

 merely as a thickening of the anterior border of the crown. This 

 tooth, however, also presents us occasionally with a zoological cha- 

 racter in the development or non-development of the internal tubercle 

 of the anterior pair ; it is absent in the Hog ; in the Peccary (who 

 seems loath to relinquish any of the full number of cusps that nature 

 can allow him) it is present ; the Moschidce are the only true Rumi- 

 nants in which I have found it wanting ; this seems to characterize 



* The singular variety in this respect noticed by Prof. Owen in the Giraffe, must 

 detract somewhat from the value of the character ; but as the absence of the gall- 

 bladder seems to be the rule in this animal, it strengthens, so far as it can avail, 

 the idea of Cervine affinity. 



