OCR Text |
Show 1896.J SKTTLL OE ORYCTEROPUS GAUDRYI. 297 the squamosal, which forms a prominent ridge external to it. The tympanic ring is nearly circular, instead of being oval with its long axis directed downward and forward. The postorbital processes of the frontals are larger, and their hinder edges are sharp and thin. I cannot detect any difference in the profile of the upper surface of the skulls of the recent and fossil forms, except such as m ay have been caused by a slight crushing of the preorbital region; and the difference in the size and form of the lachrymals pointed out by Forsyth Major cannot be taken as a character of any great importance, for the lachrymal in recent skulls varies very considerably, and in one specimen from Kassala it is extremely similar both in size and shape to the fossil. The antorbital foramen opens above the hinder lobe of in.1, and this is also the case in the Kassala skull; in other specimens it is over m2. Skull of Orycteropus yaudryi, Forsyth Major. A, from above; B, from side. About two-thirds natural size. The mandible differs from that of the recent forms only in the |