SKELETON OF CARNIVORA. 491 



but do not indicate a centre of motion, save in the smaller and 

 more active subursines. In the Racoon they converge to the 

 twelfth dorsal : the caudal vertebrae, 16 in this plantigrade and 18 

 in the Badger, increase to 31 in number in the Kinkajou, where 

 the tail is prehensile, whence the name Cercoleptes caudivol- 

 vulus. The Benturong (Artictis) has a similar caudal develope- 

 meut, with haemal arches on the ten anterior vertebrae. In the 

 last five cervical vertebras of the Ratel the neural arches are 

 longer than the centrums and overlap each other in an imbricated 

 manner, giving great strength to the articulations of this part of 

 the vertebral column. The number of dorsal vertebrae is 15, as 

 in My dans and Meles, wdth 5 lumbar ones. 



In the more digitigrade Mustelines, the Sable (^Mustela ziheU 

 Una) has 14 dorsal, 6 lumbar, 3 sacral, and 18 caudal. The eleventh 

 dorsal vertebra is that toward which the spines of the other 

 trunk-vertebra3 converge. The anapophyses begin to be de- 

 A^eloped upon the ninth dorsal, and are continued to the penulti- 

 mate lumbar vertebra. Ten pairs of ribs directly join the 

 sternum, which consists of nine bones, with a xiphoid cartilage. 

 In the Ermine (^Patorius ermineus), with a similar vertebral 

 formula, the spines of the tenth and eleventh dorsal vertebrie 

 converge towards each other and almost meet, indicating the 

 centre of motion of the trunk. Ten pairs of ribs directly join the 

 sternum. The neck is strengthened by the overlapping of the 

 costal parts of the transverse processes of the third to the sixth 

 cervical vertebrae. Some of the anterior caudal vertebrae have 

 hasmapophyses. The Otter {Lutra vulgaris) has 25 or 26 caudal 

 vertebra. Ten pairs of ribs directly join the sternum, which 

 consists of nine bones and an ensiform cartilage. The spine of 

 the eleventh dorsal vertebra is vertical, and those before and be- 

 hind it converge towards it. The metapophyses begin to be 

 developed on the twelfth dorsal vertebra, and are continued 

 throughout the lumbar series; they are low and obtuse. The 

 anapophyses commence at the eleventh vertebra, and are con- 

 tinued to the penultimate lumbar. The spines of the three sacral 

 vertebrae have coalesced to form a vertical crista. Hasmapophyses 

 are developed beneath several of the anterior caudal vertebra? ; 

 they are articulated, and some of them become anchylosed to 

 short hypapophyses or exogenous processes from the under and 

 fore part of the centrum, and then are continued in several of the 

 succeeding vertebra, wliich have not the haemal arch complete. 

 The neural arch is incomplete beyond the eighth caudal vertebra. 

 The entire tail is longer and much stronger than in the terrestrial 



