CETACEA. 



45 



base. The other cervical vertebrae (Fig. 18) have similar 

 broad, very short bodies, small arches, without spines, and 

 very long transverse processes, composed of slender upper 



p IG X 6. Anterior surface of atlas of common Fm\\'ha.\e(a?a>H0/>teramusculits), } \ 2 . 



sn foramen for first spinal nerve. 



and lower bars, widely separated at their bases, but united at 

 their extremities so as to enclose a very large space between 

 them. In the seventh the upper process only exists, and the 



FIG. 17. Anterior surface of axis of common Fin Whale (Balcejioptera musculus), i . 



o odontoid process. 



lower one is occasionally imperfect in the sixth. 1 In very 

 young animals these processes are formed only of cartilage 



1 Professor Turner has shown that, in a foetal Balcenoptera sibbaldii, 

 the inferior transverse process of the seventh is present in a cartilagi- 

 nous condition. (Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, May 1871.) 



