582 
DIMENSIONS OP URSITAXUS. 
The scull bears, upon the whole, so great 
a similitude to that of the Otter, that 
it may be very well illustrated by pointing 
out the differences merely between the two. 
These consist in the slight arcuation of the 
outline along the parietal portion of the 
skull in Ursitaxus ; the greater ,develop- 
ment of the frontal, nasal, and malar, 
bones ; the diminished length of the zygo- 
matic arches ; the rather more incomplete 
and less advanced orbits ; the very small 
size of the infra-orbitar foramina — which 
are besides two on either side — and, lastly, 
the larger development more) of the 
tympanal bones. In respect to the teeth of 
the two animals there is no very noticeable 
difference in the incisors and canines which 
indeed are apt to assimilate in most of the 
carnivora.* The canines, however, are 
thicker, shorter, and blunter in our animal 
than in the Otter. The molars, too, of botli 
are formed upon the same ultimately secto- 
rial model and have a similar arrangement 
in the skulls : but they are fewer in num- 
ber in Ursitaxus ; and the trenchant pro- 
cesses of the crowns are almost oblite- 
rated. And, as if to defy all exclusive- 
ness of system on our part, the Otter, with 
its sharp processes, has a very large flattish 
heel to the upper carnivorous tooth, and an 
extremely broad transverse tubercular be- 
hind it. On the other hand, the heel of 
the same tooth in Ursitaxus, though flat- 
ter, is smaller ; and the tuberculous tooth 
behind it exhibits a much less, but a smoother 
surface. I regret that I have no Badger’s 
skull wherewith to compare that of the 
Ursitax. Independently, as far as may be, 
of all comparisons, the skull and teeth of 
our animal have the following characters. 
The SkulL — It is very thick and solid, 
with numerous rugosities all over its sur- 
face ; is rather depressed than compressed, 
and very slightly but uniformly arched 
along the vertical line : parietes amply de- 
veloped, affording a large cerebral cavity 
and shallow temporal fossae : the cristae of 
medial height, but running unbrokenly 
from the bifurcation of the brows to the 
zygomatic arches ; their chief development 
being at the point where they sweep round 
to join those arches : frontal bones of con- 
siderable length and width : nasal, short 
but wide : both slightly convexed across ; 
and, lengthwise, the former convex, the 
latter, sub-concave : malar bones uncom- 
♦ In the form of the incisor teeth Ursitaxus 
diners entirely from Mydaus, with which ani- 
mal it has several points of affinity, other 
differences occur in the structure of the ears 
and of the extremities -not to mention the 
cardinal distinction between the molar teeth 
of the two. 
pressed, with two small infra-orbitar fora- 
mina on either side : zygomatic arches, 
short, stout, considerably bulged outwards : 
orbits medial, very incomplete, there being 
no process from the zygoma, and but a 
small one from the os frontis : frontal 
sinuses medial or largish : occipital bones 
dipt vertically from the junction of the 
lambdoidal and sagittal sutures, so that the 
condyles of the foramen magnum are neither 
posteal nor anteal to that junction. There Ij 
is a short but strong vertical crista on the 
occiput, and a transverse one of much’'greater ' 
extent, parallel and closely approximated to I 
the lambdoidal ridge. The bony separa- j 
tion of the cerebrum and cerebellum is very 
strong aud much developed, leaving a long, ' 
elliptic, vertical foramen in the midst, nearly 
twice the size of the great foramen : the I 
tympanal bones amply developed, semi- 
ovoid, and reaching forwards to the articula- 
tion of the jaws, which is so complete, in 1 
the cylindrical binge manner, that the 
lower jaw can be barely removed from ! 
the skull. The rami of the lower jaw are 
nearly straight, very powerful, short, un- i 
compressed, or remote, and furnished with ' 
large subvertical coronoid processes, and 
small styloid ones : the condyles nearly on ' 
a line with the upper ch eek teeth. 
The Teeth. — The incisors are all dispos- 
ed rectilinearly to the front, erect, strong, 
cylindrical in their bodies, and broad- | 
crowned ; the crowns of the lower ones I 
being horizontal — of the upper, obliquely 
sloped inwards. The external incisors are 
the stoutest, and the rest gradually decrease 
in thickness to the central pairs. These 
teeth are all in contact with each other ; 
and, in lower range, with the canines also : 
but the front teeth of the upper jaw have 
a necessary interval from the canines for 
their passage. The canines are short, 
stout, obtuse, conic, and of equal size above 
and below. They are mutually scarped by 
friction against each other, but exhibit no i 
heel. The upper canines are straight ; the 
lower, subcurved. All the molars are in 
contact with each other, but not quite with 
the canines. They are sixteen in all — four 
on each side of either jaw, of which the two 
first of the upper, and three first of the 
lower range are false molars ; the 3d above, 
and the 4th below, the carnivorous tooth ; 
and the 4th above the tuberculous one. 
Below there is no such tooth. All are dis- 
posed lengthwise, save the tuberculars of 
the upper jaw which have a transverse ar- 
rangement, causing a triangular vacancy 
between them and the internal heels of the 
carnivorous teeth of the same jaw. The 
molars gradually increase in size as they 
recede from the canines in the lower jaw ; 
