210 Note on the Skeletons of the Buansu. 



farther asunder than in the dog or jackall. The articulation 

 of lower jaw is rather more strictly hinge-like in buansu 

 than in the others ; at least there is a more marked overlap- 

 ping of the posterior process forming the joint. The extent 

 of lateral motion in lower jaw does not appear to be less 

 in buansu than in dog or jackall : all the canine animals 

 seem to have the power of lateral motion in the lower jaw, 

 to a limited extent, somewhat more than the cats have. 



In the dog and jackall, the frontal sinuses rise gradually 

 (laterally) from the mesial line or depression of the frontal 

 bone, until terminating externally in the margin of the orbit. 

 In the buansu, however, they are arched laterally from the 

 mesial depression, whence the skull derives a good deal of 

 the feline character. The entire superior outline from 

 the nostril to the transverse occipital ridge of the buansu's 

 skull is a gentle curve, or small segment of a large circle ; 

 whereas in the dog and jackall this line is nearly straight. 

 Although the longitudinal and transverse ridges are less 

 strongly marked in buansu than in the dog and jackall, 

 there is no comparative diminution in the strength of the 

 zygomatic arch, nor in the size of the zygoma, (space between 

 arch and parietes of the skull). Conformable to the diminish- 

 ed development of the occipital ridges, there is a less 

 development of the alee of the altas, and of the crest of 

 second vertebra?, in buansu than in the dog or jackall. If 

 the buansu has power of jaw equal to the dog and jackall, 

 the lesser strength of the masticatory muscles indicated by 

 diminished longitudinal occipital* ridge must be compen- 

 sated by the shorter and more massive lower jaw. 



Spinal Column and Extremities. — The skeletons of the 

 dog and jackall are identical in all material respects. The 

 vertebra? of the neck, back, and loins are more massive in 

 the dog and jackall than in the buansu, and the greater 



* Quaere, longitudinal and transverse, or occipital ridge ? — B. H. H. 



