146 SHUPELDT. 



otherwise intervened free angles of the maxillaries coossifj-ing with the 

 anterior apex of the vomer/^ 



Passing to the posterior view of the skiill we find the entire occipital 

 area to be in the vertical plane, the longitudinal axis of the skull being 

 perpendicular to it. The line of the very definitely marked occipital 

 crest is semicircular in outline and there is a strong, median, vertical 

 crest, that passes from the middle point of the occipital crest to the 

 supero-middle point on the periphery of the foramen magnum. The 

 base line of the oeci25ital area is perpendicular to this median crest, while 

 the condyles jDroject slightly below it. These latter are large, semi- 

 ellipsoidal in form, inclined toward each other inferiorly, with their flat 

 sides facing each other and the median plane. They project posteriorly 

 considerably beyond the large and subcircular foramen magnum. The 

 exoccipitals are massive projections with their flat bases in the horizontal 

 plane. (Plate I, figure 1.) In some specimens each of these bases is 

 marked with a deep groove, passing forward and inward toward the 

 median plane (2, 3). A more or less median "occipital prominence" 

 exists above the foramen magnum on the posterior aspect of the skull and 

 is better marked in some specimens than in otliers. 



Chief among the points of interest on the lateral aspect of the skull 

 is the capacious orbit, which is posteriorly incompleted by bone (Plate 

 I, figure 2), and with the plane of its periphery directed outward, forward, 

 and upward. The orbital wall within is entirely completed in bone 

 anteriorly, including the floor below, while posteriorly it is equally 

 lacking in this respect, the whole space in this locality merging vrith the 

 temporal fossa in its rear. The postorbital process of the malar occupies 

 a mid-point on the strong and twisted zygoma. The posterior root of 

 the latter is broad and starts from an extensive base line on the side of 

 the cranium. 



Within the orbit the foramen rotundum and foramen ovale are distinct 

 and occupy their usual sites. The lacrymal foramen is well marked in 

 some skulls (2), minute in others (1), while the other foraminal openings 

 for nei-ves, are of remarkably small caliber. Elliptical in outline with 

 its major axis vertical, the osseous meatus auditorius extemus is likewise 

 small as compared with the size of the cranium. It is found in the deep 

 recess between the posterior root of the zygoma and the exoccipital of 

 the same side. 



The basis cranii (Plate I, figure 1) is especially remarkable for the 

 fact that a large share of it lies in the same horizontal plane ( see figure 2 

 of Plate I), which is rather unusual in mammalian skulls. Nearly one- 



" Anatomy of Vertebrates (1866), 2, 388, fig. 253 and 3, 312, fig. 247. Both 

 of these figures are very different representations of the basal view of the skull 

 of Cynocephalus. They are altogether too wide for their length and they are 

 quite crude in the matter of delineation. 



