Joints of the Spine. 



159 



Processus spinosus 



Processus articularis superior 



Ligamentum flavum 



.Processus transversus 



---. Arcus vertebrae 



Processus articularis inferior 



211. Vertebral arches with ligamenta flava, 



from in front. 

 (The vertebral arches have been sawed off at their roots and the vertebral bodies removed.) 



The ligamenta flava (see also Fig. 210) are broad flat bands stretched out 

 between the arches of every two adjacent vertebrae and always proceed from the front 

 surface of the higher arch to the upper edge of the lower. They are especially strong 

 and long on the lumbar and become feebler towards the cervical vertebrae. Their fibres 

 run in a vertical direction; in the median plane they are divided into two halves by 

 a narrow groove. They consist almost exclusively of elastic fibres and are accordingly 

 of a yellow color; hence the name. The band is not present in this form between the 

 occipital bone and the atlas, nor between atlas and axis; at the former place is the 

 membrana atlantooccipitalis posterior (see page 164), at the latter a thin membrane 

 of connective tissue, which is strengthened only by isolated yellow stripes of elastic 

 fibres (see Fig. 216). 



