52 OUTLINES OF EQUINE ANATOMY. 



To fhis margin also is attached the interspinous liga- 

 ment. 



Deferences in the Dorsal Vertebrae. 



Superior spinous jrrocesses increase in length to fifth, then 

 decrease to thirteenth, the rest being about uniform ; they 

 are inclined backwards to the sixteenth, which is upright ;- 

 the seventeenth and eighteenth incline slightly forwards. 

 First comes to a point superiorly ; the rest increase in rough- 

 ness and thickness to the sixth, and in width from before 

 backwards in the twelve posterior vertebrae, in which also' 

 may be noticed a concavity just below the anterior part of the 

 superior extremity. In the central vertebrae the anterior 

 margin is rough about at its middle. The transverse p-o- 

 cesses are large and mainly articulatory in the first, and gra- 

 dually become modified in the last until each of them con- 

 sists of two portions, the superior of which is blended mth 

 the anterior oblique process, the inferior, articulatory, con- 

 tinuous with the anterior facet on the lateral part of the 

 body of the vertebra in the case of the last two. The 

 articulatory facets for the heads of the ribs gradually decrease 

 in depth from before backwards. The intervertehral notches' 

 on the ijosterior part of the pedicles are in the fourth to the 

 sixteenth vertebrae converted into foramina ; hence the fifth 

 to the seventeenth have no anterior notches. The articu- 

 atory surfaces on the anterior ohlique processes are larger than 

 those on the posterior. The former look outwards, the 

 latter inwards ; their tendency in this is increased from 

 before backwards. The ohlique processes of the first four 

 vertebrae are distinct ; in the other vertebrae the articular 

 surfaces are continued on to the laminae. Inferior spinous 

 processes are marked only in the six anterior and three pos- 

 terior vertebrae. The foramina magna are largest m the 

 anterior, smallest in the central^ vertebrae. The smooth 

 grooves on the iipper surface of the body are most marked 

 anteriorly. The last dorsal vertebra has no posterior arti- 

 culatory surfaces for the heads of the ribs, and its anterior 

 surfaces are blended with those of its transverse processes. 



THE LUMBAR VERTEBRA 



are the vertebrae forming the basement structure of the 

 loins,, situated between the dorsal and the sacral regions. 



