114 MR. T. BELL’S OBSERVATIONS ON THE NECK 
first and second dorsal, each of them bearing a pair of rudimentary ribs, moveably arti- 
culated to their transverse processes by a true articular surface. This fact I have ascer- 
tained by the examination of two skeletons in my possession, one of which is an adult, 
and is artificially articulated, the other very young, and preserved as a natural skeleton 
in spirit. 
In the adult animal we find the eighth and ninth vertebre, which I shall now call the 
first and second dorsal, having the transverse processes longer and narrower than those 
of the cervical, and each terminated with a perfect articular surface, which is slightly 
depressed ; and to these are attached the heads of the rudimentary ribs just mentioned. 
The first of these rudiments is small and slender, about +,ths of an inch in length, 
having a distinct rounded head at the articular extremity, becoming then abruptly 
smaller, and tapering to the apex. The second is considerably larger, and assumes 
more of the character of a short rib. It is about 6 lines in length, and nearly 2 in 
breadth. Its head is oblong and rounded, and there is a tubercle on the upper and 
anterior side. ‘Towards the extremity it becomes broader and flatter, with an excavated 
surface inwards, and a convex rough prominence on the outer side, apparently the 
point of muscular attachment. Immediately behind and beneath the head of the bone 
is a minute foramen for the passage of intercostal vessels. 
The character of the transverse processes of these two vertebre differs very materially, 
as might be expected, from that of the true cervical. In the superior vertebre this 
process is transverse and slightly bifid. In the seventh cervical it stands obliquely 
forwards, and the apex is broad and oblong. In the first dorsal each transverse process 
is completely divided into an anterior flattened process, which is turned forwards, and 
a true lateral or transverse one, which supports the little rudimentary rib. The trans- 
verse process is smaller, but considerably longer than those of the true cervical, and 
stands more in a lateral or transverse direction. In the second dorsal vertebra the an- 
terior processes do not exist, and the body assumes the form of the succeeding ones. 
The transverse processes are simple and obtuse, and the articular surface is slightly 
excavated. 
In the natural skeleton to which I have referred, the rudimentary ribs are very ob- 
vious, though, from the early age of the subject, they are of course much smaller than 
in the former. The first, indeed, consists only of a minute particle of bone, not much 
larger than a pin’s head, but connected with the vertebra by a capsular ligament, and 
perfectly moveable ; the second is of more considerable size, and, like the former, has 
its capsular ligament inclosing its head, and holding it on to the articular cavity of the 
transverse process of the vertebra. 
Cuvier appears to have seen the moveable costal rudiment in the young animal ; he 
has, however, evidently confounded it with the long transverse process in the adult, 
and has wholly passed over the obvious analogy which I have here endeavoured to 
trace. He says, ‘‘ Les apophyses transverses du cou sont courtes, larges au bout, qui 
