174 
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
having an extreme length of 12.3 cms. and a width of only 6.3 cms. 
In general form, measurements, and facies, it has more the appearance 
of the skull of a very large Marten {Maries americana) than that of 
our badger, and it will not be further considered in the present connec- 
tion, as its full description will appear later on, when the characters 
of all the skulls of the mustelines at hand will be described. 
Passing now to the skull of the aged badger, it is first to be noted 
that the external surfaces of the cranium and mandible have a roughish 
feel and fine, porous appearance in some places, more particular^ on 
the bones of the face and over the parietal region. 
Viewed upon its superior aspect, the cerebral casket of the cranium 
is more or less globular in form, the two superficies being separated 
by a very prominent, mesial sagittal crest of bone, the superior rim 
of which is more or less thickened. The crest averages a centimeter 
in height for its posterior moiety, tapering aw^ay as we pass forward, 
to run out as raised rims limiting the temporal fossae anteriorly (fig. 1). 
Turning to the badger skull No. 2572 (fig. 2), this crest is seen to 
have an average height of hardly more than a millimeter; while its 
anterior branches, limiting the temporal fossa upon either side, are 
practically flush with the general surface of the cranium. In this 
badger, instead of being globular in form, the vault of the cranium has 
an outline of an isosceles triangle, its broad base being the raised rim 
of the occipital crest. The middle point of this crest is triangularly 
indented, while its lateral terminations are curved, causing their sur- 
faces to face forwards and upwards. The extreme width at this point 
measures 8.2 cms. All this is entirely different in the cranium of our 
aged badger, wherein the occipital crest, though prominent, is low 
down on the cranium, circular in outline, and terminating on either 
side just below the osseous auricular opening. The occipital area 
below this crest is much limited in extent; concave supermesially, and 
terminating in a sharp, thin, concave edge as the superior margin of 
the very large foramen magnum. 
In the American badger the occipital region is very extensive, 
being perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the cranium, and reni- 
form in outline — the large foramen magnum being in the center, below, 
and the superior elliptical curve being formed by the limiting occipital 
crest. These parts in the crania of the two animals present such wide 
differences in the matter of characters that, were there naught else 
to go by, the mammalogist that placed the individuals exemplifying 
them in different families would probably be sustained by his confreres. 
