44 
MR, W. K. PARKER ON THE STRUCTURE AND 
the oi'bito-sphenoidal region, and this grows backwards as a sharp wedge, between the 
right and left bony tracts below (fig. 12). 
The “ girdle-bone ” runs well into the true fore edge of the ethmoidal region, up to 
the autogenous nasal roof, and outwards into the “ ethmoidal wings,” where they 
pass into the palatal pedicle of the face (e/pa,.). There is no “prenasal rostrum” 
formed by the intertrabecula in front, but the pro-rhinals (p.rh.) are good-sized hooks, 
and the upper and lower laminae of cartilage are broad and well-developed. The out¬ 
works of the nose, the two pairs of upper labials (uR.u.l 2 .), are quite normal. 
The outer less, and the inner more, bent arches of the face are very beautifully 
formed ; they are strong, but not thick and solid. The palatine (pa.) and the pterygoid 
(pg.) have affected the cartilaginous har very little ; the former is falcate, with an 
unusual curve; the latter is short, both in its process for the “ pedicle ” and that for 
the quadrate region. 
The bones that form so perfect a semi-oval outline are quite normal also (px., 
mx ., q.j.) ; the hindermost or quadrato-jugal has largely infected the quadrate with bony 
matter. The Eustachian tube (eu.) in the round notch of the pterygoid (pg.) is a 
short oval with its greatest diameter parallel with the axis of the skull; it is generally 
oblique in position (see Plates 6 and 7). 
Over the semi-osseous suspensorium the squamosal (sq.) binds by a very sigmoid, 
broadening stem : above, it is small on the tegmen tympani, but has a long, out-turned, 
postorbital snag. It is enclothed with a large and very broad “ annulus,” which, 
however, differs from the Oriental Ranee generally, but agrees with the English kind, 
by being imperfect above ; its crura are unusually wide apart. 
The stapes (Plate 5, figs. 12 and 15 st.) is large, oblique, sub-uncinate behind, and 
has a sinuous front margin. It has the intercalary inter-stapedial (i.st.) very dis¬ 
tinct, large, and ovoidal; the medio-stapedial bone (m.st.) is pistol-shaped, with a very 
large handle ; the extra-stapedial (e.st.) is small and orbicular, and its supra-stapedial 
process (s.st.) is free above, as in R. temporaria, but it is here a short rounded bud. 
Still there is in this kind a very highly developed “ middle ear,” and it is not in any 
sense a low kind of From 
o 
The nasals (n.) and the fronto-parietals (fp.) are well-developed, but not very thick ; 
the parasphenoid (pa.s.) is, like the skull it forms a floor to, broad and strong; it is 
trifurcate in front, sinuous laterally, and notched twice on each side behind : has a 
triangular “ handle ” at its end, and a wide rounded “ guard ”; it nearly reaches the 
foramen magnum, behind, but in front it reaches only half-way along the girdle-bone. 
The vomers (v.) are quite normal, but very wide apart. 
The mandible (fig. 13) is perfectly normal, and does not show any dentary apophysis. 
The hyo-branchial plate (fig. 14) is like that of the two last species, and differs but 
little from that of the common kind; the dorsal end of the hyoid band does not 
coalesce with the auditory floor behind the Eustachian tube (fig. 12, eu., st.h.). 
As compared with that of R. temporaria, this skull differs very little in essentials. 
