60 



THE WILD CAT OF EVROPE. 



Cat he says that they come in contact with the 

 temporals behind the orbital fossoc, whilst in the 

 Domestic race they are separated by the parietal 

 process. The examination of ten examples of both 

 races shows these variations to exist just as often in 

 one as the other. Elliot, in his ' Monograph of 

 the Felidae,' states : " In some skulls the frontals and 

 squamosals are in contact, but not always so ; these 

 parts are sometimes separated by the processes of 

 the parietal and ala sphenoid." 



The variation in the position of the second pre- 

 molar tooth is another distinction claimed by Blasius 

 as specific *. He states that in the Wild Cat the 

 surface of the second premolar of the upper jaw is 

 in direct line with that of the third or sectorial tooth 

 (see fig. 18), whilst in the Domestic Cat the anterior 



Fis. 18. 



external lobe of the sectorial tooth protrudes out- 

 Avards from the second premolar and is not in line 

 (see fig. 19). 



The examination of the teeth of ten skulls of the 



* The first premolar of the upper jaw of the i)ermanent teeth 

 is generally very rudimentary, hut occasionally it has two crowns 

 instead of one. Two instances have come under notice in examining 

 a numher of skulls. 



