296 



THE ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 



wide lateral processes, tlie faces of which look obliquely down- 

 ward and forward, and upward and backward. The centra 

 of the other cervical vertebrae are much elongated, strongly 

 convex in front, and correspondingly concave behind. The 

 ^ ^ neural spines are obsolete in all but the seventh. The ligct- 

 ji i^ tnentutn nuchce is a great sheet of elastic tissue, which extends 

 L^j^^^. from the spines of the anterior dorsal vertebrae to the occiput, 

 and is fixed, below, into the neural arches of the cervical ver- 

 tebrae. 



In the dorsal region, the opisthocoelous character of the 

 centra of the vertebrie gradually diminishes, though the ante* 



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