SHUFELDT — SKULL OF BADGER 
173 
REMARKABLE CHANGES IN THE SKULL OF AN AMERICAN 
BADGER (TAXIDEA TAXUS) DUE TO ADVANCED AGE 
By Dr. R. W. Shufeldt 
[Plate 10] 
While recently engaged in comparing the skulls of certain American 
mustelines and one from Hungary, namely the skull of a specimen of 
the European badger (Meles meles), with the view of preparing a brief 
monograph on the subject, I met with the skull of an American badger 
among the material kindly loaned me by the United States National 
Museum for this purpose, which seems to be worthy of special descrip- 
tion. This skull is numbered 22253, but carries no data on its attached 
label beyond the statement that it is the skull of a specimen of Meles 
taxus. If Meles taxus stands for the European badger, this diagnosis 
is an error, as the skull is from an aged specimen of an American badger 
— Taxidea taxus. Each and all of its characters have been compared 
by me with the corresponding ones as presented in the skull of a very 
large American badger and the aforesaid skull of the European species 
{Meles meles), No. 171964, Hungary Acad., C. Jones. 
The skull from the American one belonged to a very large specimen 
collected by W. S. Wood on the Republican Fork of the Platte River, 
on the 28th of September, 1856 (227), and carries the number of the 
National Museum of 2572 (cf). Beyond the loss of the left hamular 
process of the post palatine, it appears to be perfect in all particulars. 
As in a number of our mustelines, when they grow old, the mandible 
is nearly permanently locked to the cranium at either of its articu- 
lations, — that is, by the anterior and posterior articular eminences of 
the glenoid fossae of the temporals at the posterior termination of 
either zygomatic arch. This locking, which is complete in many 
instances, occurs in various species, or rather in the skulls of old animals 
of our American forms, and has long been known; but whether it is 
ever seen in the skulls of badgers of the Old World I am not informed, 
though I am inclined to believe that it does not. It is not seen in the 
skull of Meles meles at hand, which came from an animal long adult. 
Turning to the skull here to be compared and described, it is found 
to have an extreme length of 12 cms., and an extreme width (inter- 
zygomatic) of 8 cms., as compared with the skull No. 2572, which 
presents corresponding measurements of 12.3 cms. and 8.3 cms. The 
European badger (No. 171964) possesses a long and narrow skull 
