Word Finder - skull

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The main bones of the head considered as a unit; including the cranium, facial bones, and mandible.

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A symbol for death; death's-head

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The mind or brain.

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A crust formed on the ladle, etc. by the partial cooling of molten metal.

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The crown of the headpiece in armour.

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A shallow bow-handled basket.

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To hit in the head with a fist, a weapon, or a thrown object.

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To strike the top of (the ball).

She repeated that the skull was crushed.

The skull was cracked and broken.

Fred scratched his head as he held up the skull for close examination.

The skull is conical, stout and heavy, and the teeth, although sharper and less rounded than those of badgers, are less suited to a carnivorous diet than those of stoats, weasels and martens.

The postglenoid, post-tympanic and paroccipital processes of the skull are large; the second of these being always distinct.

His complexion is tawny, darker than that of the Chinese, but clearer than that of the Cambodian; his hair is black, coarse and long; his skin is thick; his forehead low; his skull slightly depressed at the top, but well developed at the sides.

Skull elevated and compressed; with the orbit and temporal fossa widely continuous, there being no true post-orbital process from the frontal bone.

The facial portion of the skull is generally shorter than the cranial; the orbit is freely open behind; and the premaxillae tend to be reduced and fused with the nasals.

As in the last family, the post-glenoid process of the skull is broad; the whole skull be i ng depressed with a shortened facial portion.

In the case of a special enemy or an adversary overcome in a private dispute before the king, he would make a cup of the skull, mounting it in bull's hide or in gold.

Pacas may be distinguished from agoutis by their heavier and more compact build, the longitudinal rows of light spots on the fur, the five-toed hind-feet, and the peculiar structure of the skull, in which the cheek-bones are expanded to form large capsules on the sides of the face, each enclosing a cavity opening on the side of the cheek.

Parietal bones separated by the supraoccipital; prootic and exoccipital separated by the enlarged opisthotic. Pectoral arch suspended from the skull; no mesocoracoid arch.

The head is rounded and short, without prominent beetling ridges above the eyes, or a strong crest along the middle line of the back of the skull; and the tusks of the old males are of no very great length and prominence.

The post-glenoid process is small, and the facial and cranial portions of the skull are approximately of equal length.

The head is large, and the skull elongated, and elevated posteriorly into a transverse occipital crest.

The Peruvian chinchilla (C, brevicaudata) is larger, with relatively shorter ears and tail; while still larger species constitute the genus Lagidium, ranging from the Andes to Patagonia, and distinguished by having four in place of five front-toes, more pointed ears, and a somewhat differently formed skull.

When a face-pit is present in the skull it is small.

They include a skull and several large adult bones and a child's jaw.

The quadrate is indirectly articulated with the skull, first by the horizontal, movable squamosal, secondly by the columella auris.

More detail concerning skull, scales and teeth will be found in the diagnostic descriptions of the various families (vide infra); for further anatomical information the reader is referred to the article Reptiles (Anatomy).

The skull itself is elongated, with comparatively simple and primitive molars, the latter being relatively short.

Males may be distinguished from females by the skull, in which the outer surface of the cheek-bones is roughened in the former and smooth in the latter sex.

The [ox's] horns are of nearly equal size in both sexes, are placed on or near the vertex of the skull, and may be either rounded or angulated, while their direction is more or less outwards, with an upward direction near the tips, and conspicuous knobs or ridges are never developed on their surface.

Dr Thomas Savage, a missionary at the Gabun, who sent Owen information with regard to the original skull, had, however, himself proposed the name Troglodytes gorilla in 1847.

In old males the eyes are overhung by a beetling penthouse of bone, the hinder half of the middle line of the skull bears a wall-like bony ridge for the attachment of the powerful jaw-muscles, and the tusks, or canines, are of monstrous size, recalling those of a carnivorous animal.

The skull is narrower and longer than in typical squirrels, and there are distinctive features in the cheek-teeth; but the more aberrant types come much closer to squirrels.

For ordinary practical purposes this synopsis is useless, most of the anatomical characters being visible only in the macerated skull.

The quadrates are directly attached to the skull, the squamosals being absent.

The quadrate is short and thick, and is carried by the broad and short squamosal, which lies flat against the skull, reminding in this respect of Ilysia.

Characterized by possessing only a few teeth, on the posterior part of the maxillaries, on the palatines and Coronelline Nymphophidium, the same effect is reached by two prominences at the base of the skull.

The short squamosals are very loosely attached to the skull.

The bones of the skeleton generally more resemble those of the Indian elephant than of any other species, but the skull differs in the narrower summit, narrower temporal fossae, and more prolonged incisive sheaths, supporting the roots of the enormous tusks.

The most generalized type is Coryphodon, representing the family Goryphodontidae, from the lower Eocene of Europe and North America, in which there were 44 teeth, and no horn-like excrescences on the long skull, while the femur had a third trochanter.

The skull generally lacks a sagittal crest; and the condyle of the lower jaw is transversely elongated.

Odontoid process of second vertebra semi-cylindrical; skull with a sagittal crest; and the condyle of the lower jaw rounded.

It shows the characteristic hippopotamus-flange to the lower jaw, but has also a large descending process from the jugal bone of the zygomatic arch of the skull.

It may be added that generic subdivisions of the squirrels are based mainly on the characters of the skull and teeth.

The skull is shorter and lower than in Megatherium, without any vertical expansion of the middle of the lower jaw, and the teeth also extend nearly to the front of the jaws; both these features being sloth-like.

Special interest attaches to the recent discovery in the cavern of Ultima Esperanza, South Patagonia, of remains of the genus Glossotherium, or Grypotherium, a near relative of Mylodon, but differing from it in having a bony arch connecting the nasal bones of the skull with the premaxillae; these include a considerable portion of the skin with the hair attached.

Scelidotherium is another genus of large South American Pleistocene ground-sloths, characterized, among other features, by the elongation and slenderness of the skull, which thus makes a decided approximation to the anteater type, although retaining the full series of cheek-teeth, which were, of course, essential to an herbivorous animal.

In North America Mylodon was accompanied by another gigantic species typifying the genus Megalonyx, in which the fore part of the skull was usually wide, and the third and fourth front toes carried claws.

Another genus has been described from the Pleistocene of Nebraska, as Paramylodon; it has only four pairs of teeth, and an elongate skull with an inflated muzzle.

The true beaver (Castor fiber) is a native of Europe and northern Asia, but it is represented in North America by a closely-allied species (C. canadensis), chiefly distinguished by the form of the nasal bones of the skull.

Beavers are nearly allied to the squirrels (Sciuridae), agreeing in certain structural peculiarities of the lower jaw and skull.

The high cheek-bone and the hawk's bill nose are universally distributed in the two Americas; so also are proportions between parts of the body, and the frequency of certain abnormalities of the skull, the hyoid bone, the humerus and the tibia.

Even the Calaveras man is no exception, since his skull and his polished conical pestle, the latter made of stone more recent than the auriferous gravels, show him to have been of Digger Indian type.

They also remove the skull, and the skin is then dried in a smoky hut.

Pits are present in the forehead of the skull, and the horns are ringed for part of their length, with a compressed base; their form being often lyrate,.

The dibatag or Clarke's gazelle (Ammodorcas clarkei), of Somaliland, forms a kind of connecting link between the true gazelles and the gerenuk, this being especially shown in the skull.

The East African gerenuk, or Waller's gazelle (Lithocranius walleri), of which two races have been named, is a very remarkable ruminant, distinguished not only by its exceedingly elongated neck and limbs, but also by the peculiar hooked form of the very massive horns of the bucks, the dense structure and straight profile of the skull, and the extreme slenderness of the lower jaw.