S40 



FAUNA ANTIQUA SIVALENSIS. 



In classing the Biju and Ratel under the genus Gulo, we follow the 

 common system of arrangement ; though, as remarked by Cuvier,' 

 both the number and character of their teeth would rather place them 

 with the Mustela Putorius. They appear, in fact, to be indebted to 

 their plantigrade motion alone for a place among the Gluttons. The 

 fossils now under consideration correspond in dentition with the Ratel 

 and Biju, and the following table will show that their resemblance to 

 the latter in most other respects is very strong. 



Extreme length from posterior of occipital condyles to an- 

 terior of incisors, taken as the modulus and assumed at 



Breadth measured across mastoid processes . 



Greatest breadth of cranium opposite mastoid processes 



Least ditto ditto at temporal fossfe 



Height of occiput from inf. margin of foramen magnum 

 to sup. of occipital ridge ..... 



Breadth of ditto from point to point of styloid processes 



Ditto across the occipital condyles .... 



Ditto of frontal from point to point of post, orbital 

 apophyses ....... 



Ditto greatest across zygomatic arches . 



Ditto exteriorly across the superior canine teeth . 



Perpendicular diameter of occipital foramen . 



Length from anterior of canine teeth to post, of tubercu 

 lar teeth, measured externally .... 



Breadth of upper jaw measured across carnivorous molars 



Greatest antero-posterior diameter of canine teeth . 



Width of tuberculous molars .... 



The two fossils, though differing considerably from each other, agree 

 in the following points of dissimilarity from the recent skull. Their 

 canine teeth are larger and stronger, and their tubercular molars 

 smaller ; the two lines of molars converge towards the muzzle consi- 

 derably less in the fossil than in the recent animal, and the individual 

 false molars are set less obliquely to the line of maxillary. The frontal 

 is wider between the orbits ; the post-orbital apophyses more promi- 

 nent, and the depression of the cranium in rear of them less deep ; the 

 exterior portion of the mastoid processes has a far greater development 

 (fig. 8) ; the transverse occipital ridge is thicker, more rugged and 

 more prominent, and projects considerably beyond the plane of the 

 occiput in the prolongation of that of the parietal bones (fig. 5). Mea- 

 surements of the recent and fossil lower jaws exhibit no differences 

 save in the canine teeth, which severally correspond with the same 

 teeth in the upper jaw. There is, however, in the fossil (fig. 6) a deep 



' II convient d'autant mieux de com- 

 parer le Ratel au Glouton, que ces deux 

 quadrupfedes sont a peu pres de meme 

 taille ; mais outre que le Glouton a six 

 molaires de plus que le Ratel, le crane 

 de celui-ci est plus large en arriere, son 

 front moinseleve, son orbite moins cerne, 

 ses arcades zygomatiques moins hautes, 



et I'apophyse corono'ide de sa machoire 

 inferieure beaucoup moins haute, plus 

 large, et plus obtuse. Les rapports du 

 ratel avec le putois, d'apres ses dents et 

 sa tete, sont certainementplusimportans 

 que les deferences de marche. — Ossemens 

 Fossiks, tom. iv. p. *0. 



