[Morphology and development of the cranium of Felis silvestris f. catus Linné 1758--a contribution to comparative anatomy of Carnivora. I. Introduction, material and methods, complete cranium and regio ethmoidalis].

In the present study, the morphology and development of the cartilaginous and osseous cranium of Felis silvestris f. catus is analysed by investigating 2 advanced embryonic stages of 51.1 mm (Felis 1) and 95.5 mm (Felis 2) crown-rump-length, respectively. The heads of Felis 1 and 2 were serially sectioned transversely to produce some models of the cranium and the nasal capsule (wax-plate reconstruction after Born). The investigation of the advanced embryonic cat stages pursues Terry's studies on younger ones of 10 mm to 23.1 mm c.r.l. So, by now, there is an almost complete embryonic series for comparative examination. On the other hand, our knowledge about craniogenesis of fissiped carnivores as a whole will be augmented. The present 1st part of this study gives a detailed description and discussion of the development of the general form of the cranium, the flexures of the skull base, and the ethmoidal region. It is evident that besides general eutherian features, specific characteristics of terrestrial carnivores and felids, resp., can be demonstrated during the development of the embryonic chondrocranium. Special interest lies upon morphogenesis of the whole nasal capsule, which is comparatively short in late embryogenesis, and solum nasi, with its highly differentiated Cartilago ductus nasopalatini and allied structures.