﻿110 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



§ 2. Description. Glenoid Cavity. — (a). The inferior angle of the scapula is truncated 

 to form the glenoid cavity, which is slightly concave transversely, deeply so longitudinally, 

 oval in outline, with the long diameter lying parallel to the median line. In the figured 

 specimen the periphery is nearly even with the surface of the cavity ; but in an older 

 fragment from Bleadon it is slightly raised, so as to form a rim somewhat thicker behind 

 than before. It gives attachment to a ring of fibro-cartilage, that considerably deepened 

 the cavity for the humerus, and afforded a greater freedom of motion to the fore limb 

 than if it had been completely ossified. On the upper or outer edge is a depression 

 which destroys the completeness of the oval (-//), corresponding with the deltoid process of 

 the humerus : this depression is a point of difference between the scapulae of Lions and 

 Bears. The anterior contour of the oval is broken by the prolongation of a ridge, passing 

 from the base of the coracoid (d). This ridge and the process supporting it descend 

 further in Felis than in Ursus, rendering the glenoid cavity far more concave longi- 

 tudinally in the former than in the latter. The broadly oval form also differentiates the 

 feline glenoid from the narrow and elliptical one of Ursus, and from the triangular and 

 smaller one of Hyaena. 



Coracoid. — (d) . The body of the coracoid completely soldered to the scapula forms a 

 portion of the broad obtuse process (b), on the anterior edge of the glenoid cavity. Its 

 point is broken in the specimen figured, but its position is marked by the ridge passing 

 from it to the edge of the glenoid cavity. The process (b) affords attachment to the tendon 

 of the biceps muscle. 



Neck. — The coracoidal and glenoidal portions of the bone are separated from the rest 

 by a well-defined constriction or neck, the existence of which affords a good character for 

 determining feline scapulae from those of Bears. 



Dorsal or superior surface. — The superior surface is divided into two subequal parts 

 by the spine (c), the upper of which is the supra-spinal {in), the lower the infra-spinal fossa 

 (<?). The portion of the scapula figured is very slightly concave in the first of these, and 

 slightly convex in the second, and so far resembles that of a Lion in our own possession. 

 Its fragmentary condition prevents any minute comparison with that of the Lion and Tiger. 

 In the two Lions in the College of Surgeons the convexity of (e) varies in degree, while in 

 the Tiger it is barely perceptible. 



Spine [c). — The spine more prominent than that of Bear, springing at right angles to 

 the body of the bone, and passing obliquely backwards from the neck to the anterior 

 angle of the vertebral or upper border, divides, as above stated, the two fossae. It slightly 

 increases in height from the acromion to the middle of the delto-acromial process, and 

 thence declines to the periphery of the bone. This latter portion, however, is broken 

 in the figure. The acromion (/), which in the figured bone is imperfectly ossified, is 

 rounded, very slightly inclined forwards, and does not articulate with the rudimentary 

 clavicle, which is also without a sternal articulation. In the old animal it would over- 

 hang but a small part of the glenoid cavity, and it does not extend down to a plane passing 



