324 THE SKELETON OF THE RABBIT. 



skeleton by muscles and ligaments only. In the rabbit, as 

 in nearly all other mammals, it is very incomplete : the 

 dorsal or scapular portion on each side is well developed, 

 but the ventral or coracoid portion is almost entirely absent, 

 being represented merely by a small knob of bone fused with 

 the scapula : the clavicles also are imperfect. 



i. The scapula is a triangular plate of bone, of 

 which the apex is directed downwards and for- 

 wards, and is expanded and hollowed on its 

 ventral surface to form the shallow glenoid 

 cavity, with which the head of the humerus 

 articulates. 



Of the three borders, the anterior or 

 coracoid border is nearly straight ; the pos- 

 terior or glenoid is slightly concave ; and the 

 dorsal or suprascapular, which is the shortest 

 of the three, is convex and supports the car- 

 tilaginous suprascapular. 



The spine is a prominent ridge running 

 along the outer surface of the scapula, nearly 

 parallel to and a short distance behind the 

 coracoid border. It is continued ventrally 

 into a free downwardly directed process, the 

 acromion, from the posterior border of which 

 the long metacromion projects backwards. 



The coracoid border is continuous below 

 with the coracoid process, which overhangs 

 the glenoid cavity, and is produced inwards 

 into a blunt hook. This is a distinct bone in 

 the young rabbit, and is the sole represen- 

 tative of the coracoid portion of the pectoral 

 girdle. 



ii. The clavicle is a slender'curved cartilage-bone, 

 rather less than an inch in length, and is 

 attached to a ligament running from the 

 scapula to the sternum. 



