152 INSECTIVOEA. 



and articular aspect of the process is deeply concave and looks forwards and out- 

 wards, and is oval with a narrow upper end. A deep and wide concavity occurs 

 immediately above it, on the same line with the. mastoid process, but separated from 

 the latter by a convexity. Above the concavity there is an outwardly projecting 

 ridge (part of the ridge which arises from the upper border of the mastoid process), 

 the under surface of which is covered with an elongated articular surface for the 

 upper articular facet of the lower jaw. 



The tympanic is more than a mere ring, as its internal margin is a thin plate 

 arching outwards over one-third of the space defined by the ring itself. The 

 imperfection of the cranial wall covered by the tympanic is more reduced in size 

 than in most Soricine skulls. The occipital condyles are of moderate size, and look 

 downwards, outwards, and backwards, and there is a well-marked precondylar 

 foramen with the foramen lacerum posterius, anterior and external to it, and 

 behind and external to this foramen an obscure, but, at the same time, distinct 

 par-occipitaP process, anterior to which and separated by a rather deep fossa is a 

 (carotid ?) foramen. Immediately above this process, which is continuous with the 

 lambdoidal ridge, and posterior to the latter, and above the level of the condylar 

 surface, there is a well-marked foramen leading directly into the lateral sinus, at 

 the junction of the supra-occipital and the petromastoid. Immediately external 

 to the tympanic, there is a strong (mastoid ?) process directed forwards and out- 

 wards formed by projections from the petro-mastoid and squamous. Above and 

 external to this process there is a ridge running forwards along the side of the skull 

 and terminating anteriorly in the facet for the articulation of the superior division 

 of the condyle of the lower jaw. This ridge is immediately below the line of union 

 of the squamous and parietal bones. Behind it, there is a small foramen leading 

 directly into the lateral sinus. Posterior to the facet which looks outwards, for- 

 wards, and downwards, there is a shaUow notch, immediately above which, on the 

 parietal, are one or two venous foramina. Below the anterior extremity of the 

 superior of the two facets for the mandible are two or three large foramina, placed 

 one above the other, and a very minute foramen associated with them. The most 

 superior of these foramina leading over the posterior, external angle of the cribriform 

 plate passes through the ridge of the ali-sphenoid opening on its posterior margin, 

 anterior to and slightly below the orifice of the small venous foramen above the 

 posterior end of the superior, condylar facet. The second and middle foramen, when 

 there are three, communicates directly with the cribriform plate of the ethmoid, and 

 the third opens into the optic foramen internally. These two or three foramina are 

 situated immediately behind the sphenoidal fissure, and between the superior 

 extremity of the inferior, glenoid, articular surface and the anterior end of the facet 

 above it. The sphenoidal fissure and foramen rotundum are represented both by a 

 single opening which is also common to the optic nerve. There is a minute foramen 

 in the centre of the interspace between the two optic foramina. The posterior palatine 



' In the skull of a Pachyura from Amoy, the paroccipital process is rather strongly developed. 



