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Show 356 DR. J. MURIE ON T H E [May 26, A posterior view of the cranium minus the mandible (as fig. 7, B, illustrates) brings out very well the odd implantation of the horns, basal width apart, and prominent postfrontal flattening. The orbits outlie squarely; and both the horns and horn-cores (c) uprise boldly. (b) Component parts of the skull.-The long nasals abut against each other with a considerable convexity, toned down, however, by a flattening longitudinally of the summit of the arch. They are inserted into the frontals by a semilunar naso-frontal suture; and their outer margins from behind forwards are bounded respectively by the large suborbital fissures, maxillaries, and a small portion of the premaxillaries. As Turner notes, they are widest posteriorly; towards their middle there is some lateral constriction, and forwards near their tips they gently broaden. The extremity of each is incised by a semilune, so that together, quite in front, they present a broad biconcave edge. In the top flattening of the nasals, their posterior width, and bifurcate tips the Prongbuck follows the Deer and not the Antelopes. From the absence of a suborbital fossa, unusual extension forwards of the superior maxillary (Mx) and more than ordinary dilatation of its ascending or nasal process, the hone presents a remarkably prominent but throughout level cheek-surface; and this gives rather a cylindrical contour to the rostral portion of the face. Whilst there is well-marked masseteric roughness, there is no ridge rising before the orbit, or only a very indistinct indication of such. The crescentic infraorbital foramen is large but low, and opens a little above in front of the first premolar. The anterior palatal portions of the maxillae are characterized by the very elevated sharp ridge running from the alveolus forwards. A feature more akin to Deer than to Antelopes is the way in which the anterior palatal portion of the maxillary forks and embraces the outer limb of the praemaxilla (Pwu*). This is more marked in some Prongbuck skulls than in others ; but in all the coadaptation of the bones, or the sutural line, manifests cervine instead of bovine construction. In Deer the upper canine tooth is implanted in the said fork or angle; and though, in the adult Cabrit, there is no such tooth extant, yet the bifurcation of the bone may be interpreted as a foreshadowing of the Stag's dental development. Each praemaxilla is of a fair size; and its ascending limb articulates with and between the nasal and maxillary, in a narrow wedge-form an inch or so in length. The ascending or outer limb is nar-rowisb throughout, the horizontal or inner one slender, and their flattish anterior angle of junction moderately expanded. The jugal or malar bone (Ju), 3 inches long and 1 ^ in greatest depth, offers an elliptical outline, a large portion of which constitutes a cheek-buttress. The zygomatic splint posterior to the orbit agrees with that of the Chamois in its uncommon shortness. The segment of the lachrymal contributing to the orbital ring forms no more than an eighth of the circuit; here the lachrymal is broadest, ta- |
