396 HARRIS HAWTHORNE WILDER ON 



Transverse processes. — These processes, quite rudimentary in 1, are represented in 

 2 by the dorsal lamina alone, while the ventral lamina appears but slightly indicated by 

 a curving in of the ventral margin of the former. A continuation of this method pro- 

 duces in 3 a fair indication of a ventral lamina, which in 4 has become of normal size and 

 appearance. In vertebra 2 to 7, approximately, the dorsal laminae are set perpendicu- 

 larly, beyond which they grow more and more obhque. In the sacral vertebra they 

 become again nearly perpendicular, beyond which they rapidly become obsolete but 

 remain more nearly perpendicular. As they degenerate they separate into two portions, 

 a dorsal and a ventral, corresponding to the diapophysis and pleurapophysis (Goppert's 

 "Balken"). This di\dsion occurs at approximately the 25th vertebra, after which the 

 dorsal or tubercular jjortiou disappears in 2 to 3 more vertebrae, while the ventral or 

 capitular portion persists for a few vertebrae farther. 



Attachment of ribs. — As shown above, the ribs are bifurcated at their proximal ends, 

 the two being kuown as the dorsal or tubercular and the ventral or capitular attachments. 

 These relations of the soft parts are plainly indicated in dried specimens by the presence 

 and relative development of the sheaths, the laminae of which furnish a set of moulds 

 giving the exact condition of the cartilages, and thus the following items, although 

 obtained for the most part from dried specimens, will doubtless be found to be wholly 

 reliable. Vertebra 1 is entirely without ribs. In 2, 3, and 4, both tubercular and capitu- 

 lar ends of the ribs are of large caliber and both are attached to cartilaginous rods. In 2 

 the capitular sheath is exceedingly small and the tubercular one a little larger. In 3 the 

 tubercular sheath is quite large and the capitular one a little smaller, and in 4 both are 

 large, the capitular sheath being slightly in excess of the other. From 5 to S the capitu- 

 lar sheath is always present but there is no distinct tubercular one, this attachment being 

 one of simple osseous contact. In the sacral vertebra there are two sheaths, one for each 

 attachment. They are of about equal size and are larger than in any other vertebra. 

 These two attachments of the sacral rib are figured and described by Giippert ('96, 

 p. 402), but, since he has failed to find them in the other vertebrae and has even stated 

 that a tubercular attachment does not exist, he is under the necessity of accounting for 

 them in some other way. This he does by describing a process (Hocker) which grows 

 out of the side of the rib bearer, and " dient der Befestigung der kurzen oberen Spange 

 der Sakralrippe." Although these words are noncommittal, the implication is, that this 

 " Hocker " and the connection thus formed are a new formation and not homologous with 

 the dorsal or tubercular connection. This leads to the inevitable conclusion that the 

 dorsal or tubercular connections of the sacral ribs are not homologous with those of the 

 others, a conclusion which a moment's consideration of an entire adult skeleton would 

 render invalid. The vertebrae which intervene between the true sacral vertebra and the 



