| OCR Text |
Show 366 DR. J. MURIE ON T H E [May 26, are 35. Several of the last caudal, it may be noted, are wanting, having been injured during the process of maceration ; so 37 to 38 may more truly be considered the total number. Of those present, 7 are cervical, 13 dorsal, 6 lumbar, 4 sacral, and 5 caudal. The cervicals are distinguished by their great size, compared with the other spinal regions. The 5 hinder ones interlock with each other by well-marked opisthoccelian articulations. This is not uncommon in a partial degree among ruminants, but is best observed in the Camelidae and Giraffidae. The atlas is appreciably flattened and broad. Its condylar articular surface is low and without the outer double notch of the Goats and Sheep. The transverse process is a thin wide plate of bone, ending backwardly in a rounded flattish process. The vertebral foramen pierces it vertically, and then horizontally passes through the neural arch. A rudiment of a neural spine exists at the middle of the bone, flanked forwardly by two deepish grooves. The body has a moderate-sized hypapophysial keel. The axis bas a neurapophysis an inch high, which runs the entire length of the vertebra ; anteriorly the spine projects as a process forwards, but posteriorly is truncate. A sharp-pointed barb-like anapophysis overlaps the third vertebra. There is a well-marked keel, more fully developed, however, in the third, fourth, and fifth cervicals. The vertebral foramen perforates the neural arch in front. Neural spines are wanting in the third and fourth vertebrae; but, as in most ruminants, it is developed in the fifth, and lengthened in the sixth and seventh. The laminar arches of the third, fourth, and fifth are marked by a postmedian depression as well as lateral ones. The second, third, and fourth cervicals are the longest. The pleurapophysial element of the transverse process of the sixth cervical is unusually broad. The dorsal vertebrae, in a bird's-eye view, are seen steadily to decrease from the cervical towards the lumbar region. The centre of movement of the spine hinges on the tenth dorsal vertebra ; this is shown by the change of direction forwards in the neurapophysis. The first dorsal spinous process is of considerable length; and from it to the third they increase in size; between this latter and the sixth they remain nearly uniform in length, and slope sharply backwards. The next four gradually shorten. The last three dorsal neurapophyses are broader and directed forwards. A metapophj'sis in the form of a tubercle is developed on tbe first dorsal vertebra, enlarges on to the third, then remains small as far as the eleventh. The twelfth and the thirteenth increase in magnitude and approach the prominent plate-like form found in the lumbar region. The dorsal vertebral region measures 13§ inches. The bodies of the six lumbar vertebrae are subequal in size. Their transverse processes are only of moderate breadth, but very long, and subequal from the second to the sixth. The neurapophyses, on the other hand, are very broad, of nearly uniform height, and curve forwards. The metapophyses are prominent and thick ; the inter- |
