The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
The cranial cavity is decidedly small, the reduction being specially
noticeable in the cerebral fossa, which is not much larger than the
cerebellar fossa. The foramen magnum is large, and the dorsal surface
of the cranium narrow. The zygomatic arch is very strongly developed,
the squamosal (fig. 92, 4) being especially prominent, and being drawn
out not only into the zygomatic process, but also into a large
post-tympanic process which articulates with the exoccipital. At the
side of the skull between the squamosal, supra-occipital and
exoccipital, there is a wide vacuity in the cranial wall, partially
filled up by the very large periotic, which is ankylosed to the
tympanic, but is not united to any other bones of the skull. The
foramen lacerum medium is confluent with the foramen lacerum anterius,
and the two together form an enormous vacuity on the floor of the
skull, bounded chiefly by the exoccipital, basi-occipital, alisphenoid
and squamosal. The jugal (fig. 92, 8) is large and in _Manatus_ sends
up a strong process, which nearly or quite meets the postorbital
process of the frontal, completing the orbit. In the other Sirenia the
orbit is completely confluent with the very large temporal fossa. The
lachrymal in _Manatus_ is very small, but is larger in _Halicore_. The
premaxillae (fig. 92, 9) are large, but smaller in _Manatus_ than in
the other genera, in all of which they are curiously bent down in
front. Their upper margin forms the anterior border of a very large
aperture lying high on the roof of the skull and extending back for a
considerable distance. This aperture is formed by the union of the two
anterior nares. The nasals are quite vestigial or absent, and the
narial aperture is bounded above by the frontals; in its floor are
seen the slender vomer and large mesethmoid. The palate is long and
narrow, and formed mainly by the maxillae; behind it there is a large
irregular process formed by the union of the palatine, pterygoid, and
pterygoid plate of the alisphenoid. The mandible is very massive and
has a very high ascending portion, a rounded angle (fig. 92, 10), and
a prominent coronoid process; the two rami are firmly ankylosed
together. The hyoid consists principally of the broad flat basi-hyal;
the anterior cornua are but slightly ossified, while the thyro-hyals
are not ossified at all.
CETACEA. The skull in all Cetacea, especially in the Odontoceti, is a
good deal modified from the ordinary mammalian type.
In the _ARCHAEOCETI_ this modification is less marked than in either
of the other suborders. The nasals and premaxillae are a good deal
larger than they are in living forms, and the anterior nares are
placed further forward. The maxillae do not extend back over the
frontals, and there is a well-marked sagittal crest.
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