4Q OUTLINES OF EQUINE ANATOMY. 



backwards, slightly curled upwards at its roughened free 

 margin. Both of these tubercles a^ord attachment to 

 muscles. The inferior surface of the process is concave 

 and rough ; the superior surface convex. Its anterior margin 

 is concave, smooth, and rounded ; its posterior margin con- 

 cave and sharj). 



CEEVICAL VEETEBRJE 



in general are remarkable for their size, for the large size 

 of their foramina magna and intervertebral gaps, for the 

 regularity and uniform length of their processes, and for 

 their general roughnesses, and the facilities they afford for 

 muscular attachment. Each of them, however, presents 

 modifications. The first two, atlas and dentata, approxi- 

 mate the characters of the vertebrae which are modified 

 to form the skull ; the last two tend to assume the dorsal 

 type. The third, fourth, and fifth are with difilculty dis- 

 tinguishable. The following modifications will he observed in 

 examining the vertebroe from the third to the seventh. 



The posterior part of the superior spinous processes 

 becomes more separated from the posterior oblique pro- 

 cesses. The anterior and posterior oblique processes in 

 the third are separate, in fourth united by a thin ridge, 

 in fifth by a roughened ridge. The concavity between the 

 superior spinous process and the anterior oblique processes 

 becomes more and more marked to the sixth. The articula- 

 tory surfaces on both oblique processes increase in size from 

 before backwards, as do also the vertebral foramina, and 

 the articulatory surfaces gradually change from the vertical 

 to the horizontal position. The inferior spinous process 

 decreases in size to the sixth, where it is almost imper- 

 ceptible; it becomes larger m the seventh and very irregular. 

 The posterior tubercle from before backwards manifests a 

 tendency to division, which in the sixth is very marked, so 

 that the superior and inferior parts foim distinct promi- 

 nences, of which the superior is triangular, concave pos- 

 teriorly. From the dentata to the sixth the superior 

 spinous processes decrease in size, but the seventh has a 

 broad superior spinous process terminating superiorly in 

 a point. This is the shortest of the cervical vertebrae. Its 

 transverse process is square, undivided, and has only one 

 root. Its posterior oblique processes present much smaller 



