414 



PALEONTOLOGY. 



its movements to one plane, as in opening and closing the 

 month. The plate of bone, called coronoid process (r), which 

 gives the surface of attachment to the chief biting muscle 

 (crotaphyte or temporal) is broad and high ; the surface on 



the side of the skull (tem- 

 poral fossa, t) from which that 

 muscle arises is correspond- 

 ingly large and deep, and is 

 augmented by the extension 

 of ridges of bone from its up- 

 per and hinder periphery. 



The bar or bridge of bone 

 (zygomatic arch) which spans 

 across the muscle, bends 

 strongly outwards to augment 

 the space for its passage ; and 

 as it gives origin to another 

 powerful biting muscle (mas- 

 seter), the arch is also bent 

 upwards to form the stronger 

 point of resistance during the 

 gripe of that muscle. From 

 almost all the periphery of 

 the back surface of the skull 

 there is a strong pitted ridge, 

 affording extensive attach- 

 ment to powerful muscles 

 which raise the head, together 

 Fig. 160. with the animal's body which 



Palfeontological characters of a Feline the lion may have seized with 



Carnivore. 



his jaws ; this beast of prey 

 being able to draw along the carcase of a buffalo, and 

 with ease to raise and bear off the body of a man. If we 

 next examine the framework of the fore limb, which is 



