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THE ANATOMY OF THE HEDGEHOG. 443 



like, fold. The imder surface of the body bears hairs of 

 the ordinary kind; but, on the dorsal aspect of the head 

 and trunk, the hairs are converted into strong fluted spines. 

 There are twenty-one dorso-lunibar vertebrae (of which 

 fifteen are dorsal, and six lumbar), three or four sacral, and 

 twelve to fourteen caudal. Accessory processes, or meta- 

 pophyses, are developed on several of the dorso-lunibar ver- 

 tebrae. The sternebrse are laterally compressed, except the 

 manubrium, which is broad ; and eight of the fifteen pair of 

 ribs are connected with the sternum. 



The occipital foramen is placed completely at the hinder 

 extremity of the skull, in the lower part of the perpen- 

 dicular occipital face of the cranium, and looks backwards. 

 There are large paramastoid processes. The glenoidal 

 surface for the mandible is flattened. The zygoma is stout, 

 and the jugal.bone is, as it were, applied upon the outer 

 side of it. The orbit has no posterior osseous boundary. 

 The lachrymal foramen lies upon the face. There are 

 unossified spaces in the bony palate, and the posterior 

 margins of the palate are thickened, as in the Lemurs. 

 The large and bullate tympanic bone does not ankylose 

 with the squamosal, or the periotic, and is readily lost from 

 the dry skull. The alisphenoid contributes lai'gely to the 

 formation of the front wall of the tympanum ; and a large 

 portion of the inner wall of the tympanic cavity is formed 

 by a broad process of the basisphenoid, the outer and lower 

 edge of which joins, by a sort of harmonia, with the inner 

 and lower edge of the tympanic. 



The ascending portion of the ramus of the mandible is 

 short, and the angle is slightly inflected. The two rami 

 are not ankylosed at the symphysis. The supi-a-scapular 

 fossa is wider than the infra-scapular. The spine is strong, 

 and the acromion bifurcates, sending a prolongation back- 

 wards. The clavicles are long and convex forwards. The 

 humerus has an intercondyloid foramen ; but there is no 

 foramen above the inner condyle, and this circumstance 

 is unusual among the Insectivora. The bones of the anti- 

 brachium are fixed in the prone position. There is an os 



