154 MAMMALIAX DESCENT. [Lect. VI 



angulare, and tlie angulare of the ovipara. More than 

 this, a sickle of hone passes across in front of the tym- 

 panic cavity, exactly as in the ]\larsupials. But this- 

 jDretympanic bar is soon absorbed, and so, after a time, 

 is the rest of the wild growth of fibrous bone, until, in 

 the adult, the processus gracilis, or slender process of 

 the hammer bone, is a mere point. In the Crocodile the 

 cavum tympani (drum cavity) is mainly formed by the 

 hollowing out of the c[uadratum (or jaw-pier). In the 

 Bird it is behind that bone, which, however, is hollow, 

 and opens into the cavity by a considerable passage. 

 In the Mole, the incus, malleus, and stapes (the small 

 ear-bones), lie in the drum cavity, and like their 

 counterparts in the Bird — the quadratum, articular bone 

 and columella (stapes) — are all pneumatic ; little, hollow 

 shells of bone, opening into the general cavit}". In some 

 adult Insectivora the sheath of the stapedial artery, which 

 runs from the common carotid to the artery of the 

 lower jaw, becomes ossified, and as this passes through 

 the foot-hole of the stirrup, that bone is fastened in its. 

 place, the little bony tube being continuous with the os 

 petrosum (or stony bone of the inner ear) at each end. 

 This curious state of things is only temporary in the 

 Mole ; in young specimens, three parts grown, it is seen,, 

 but this tubular rod becomes absorbed afterwards. As 

 in Birds and Crocodiles, the adult Mole's skull is. 

 extremely pneumatic, or full of air cavities. We only 

 retain the mastoid cells in addition to the typanic 



