582 



Fossil remains of the smaller Carnivora 



[Skft. 



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 hreadth of cranium opposite mastoid processes, 



Least ditto ditto at temporal fossa?, 



Heie-lit 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, orbitary apo- 

 physes, 



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- 

 lous teeth, measured externally, 



Breadth of upper jaw measured across carnivorous molars, 



Greatest antero-posterior diameter of canine teeth, 



Width of tuberculous molars, 



Recent 

 Biju. 



Fossil. 

 Fig. 4.— Fig. 7. 



1,000 



1,000 



0,581 



0,592 



0,457 



0,443 



0,226 



0,258 



0,318 



0,307 



0,335 



0,361 



0,243 



0,241 



0,236 



0,327 



0,546 



0,543 



0,220 



0,238 



0,088 



0,091 



0,282 



0.2S7 



0,347 



0,339 



0,058 



0,071 



0,081 



0,073 



1,000 

 0,610 

 0,474 

 0,262 



0,343 

 0,394 

 0,243 



0,313 

 0,561 

 0,236 

 0,108 



0,287 

 0,325 

 0,067 

 0,069 



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 tuberculous molars 

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

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

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

 is wider between the orbits ; the post, orbitary apophyses more pro- 

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

 the exterior portion of the mastoid processes has a far greater deve- 

 lopment (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). 

 Measurements of the recent and fossil lower jaws exhibit no differ- 

 ences 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 depression in the ramus, which in the recent species is nearly 

 flat. In our specimen this depression is as marked as in the tiger 

 and other feline animals. The differences above noted, as before re- 

 marked with regard to the cat, tend to prove that the ancient species 

 was even more powerful and savage than its present representative, the 

 Biju itself, by no means deficient in these qualities. The three recent 

 skulls examined on this occasion had all suffered more or less from 

 the violence to which the vigorous self-defence of the animals had 

 obliged their captors to resort. 



Canis Vulpes. 



The specimen represented in figs. 9 and 10, though fortunate in 

 possessing both lines of molars complete, has suffered much from a 



