248 M. Marcel tie Serres on the Distinctive Characters 



frontoparietal suture, is very largely developed in this animal. 

 In those varieties of the dog, which, like the mastiff, approach 

 near to the wolf, the sagittal crest is also developed, though not 

 to the same extent. 



Concerning the crests which arise or proceed from the poste- 

 rior orbital apophyses of the frontal bone, they are not less dis- 

 tinctly seen in dogs, but then they are constantly rounded off'. 

 They do not unite till after they have passed the fron to-parietal 

 suture ; and it is worthy of remark, that no trace of this sagit- 

 tal crest is to be found in dogs, which, like the spaniel, possess 

 the highest degree of intelligence. It is flat, rather broad, and 

 formed by the scarcely prominent edge of two ridges, which, 

 proceeding from the posterior orbital apophyses of the frontal 

 bone, run along the superior part of the parietal bones, and 

 unite at the external occipital protuberance. In this truly in- 

 telligent race, the sagittal crest scarcely projects above the sur- 

 face of the cranium, and has thus neither the same prominence 

 nor the same development which is seen in the other varieties of 

 the dog. It may be remarked in general, that all the crests, 

 all the processes, and all the projecting laminae, are much strong- 

 er in the wolf than in the dog and the fox. Hence it follows 

 that the muscular attachments are much larger and stronger in 

 the first than in the other two; and thus the wolf, which is much 

 more voracious than the others, has, from this circumstance 

 alone, better means of satisfying his appetite. 



The sagittal crest projects likewise in the fox, but the crests 

 which come from the posterior orbital apophyses of the frontal 

 bone, constantly unite with it, at least in all the adult specimens 

 which are under our observation, behind the fronto-parietal su- 

 ture. 



With regard to the occipito-parietal crest, it is usually less 

 prominent in dogs than in the wolf, without excepting dogs 

 of the largest size, as the mastiff. Almost no traces of it are 

 seen in dogs which have the rounded cranium ; and this diffe- 

 rence is the more apparent when the wolf is compared with the 

 more intelligent races of dogs.; and hence it is a more distin- 

 guishing mark, as we proceed from the mastiff to the spaniel. 



The line and the bony crest which run from the edge of the 

 zygomatic arch, and pass above the external auditory foramen, 



