| OCR Text |
Show 1904.] SKULL OF THE GIKAFFE. 151 in a footnote, dated April 30th, on p. 295 of the above-mentioned memoir), and suggested that either the base of tlxe primary horn ox* ossicusp must have been hollowed out by the absorption of its substance as the sinus extended upwards, or that the primary ossicusp must have been lifted up bodily upon a hollow dome ox-cone of the f x-onto-pax-ietal bone, while a coiresponding downgrowth of bone occurred from the margin of the ossicusp so as to cover- up the lower par-ts of this conical eminence. O n the former assumption the layex- of bone which in text-fig. 9 (p. 155) forms the boundary of the upper-most part of the fronto-parietal vacuity would belong to the ossicusp, and on the latter to the fronto-pax-ietal bone. So much of the suture as can be recognised in the section certainly rises so as to run parallel to the margin of the sinus, and the lamination and the density of the bone that forms the immediate boundary of the vacuity also favour- the second view. Desiring to know more about the relations of the great frontoparietal sinuses, Prof. Lankester had tlxe skull cut across into six Text-fig. 4. Skull of Giraffe, left side ; key-figure, a little larger than one-sixth (linear) of the natural size, showing the directions in which the skull was cut. pieces along planes which he indicated, and the inclinations of which are shown in text-fig. 4 by tlxe lines 1-5. The appearances presented by these sections being new to science, and the sections promising to prove of greater interest in proportion as more knowledge is obtained of the skull of the Okapi, Prof. Lankester had drawings made, which he handed over to m e with a request that I should write a shox-t description of them for publication. M y thanks are hereby tendered to Prof. Lankester for tlxe use of the drawings. |
