RUMINANTIA. 



sinuses. These spaces do not exist in certain 

 of the antelopes, as for example in the Gazelle 

 (A. dorcas) and the Sasin (A. cervicapra). 

 The horns exhibit a great variety of curva- 



Fig. 342. 



D. 



Front view of the cranium of the Choustngha. (From 

 a specimen in Lond. Coll. Surg. Museum.) 



ture and outline, and in those of the Cabrit 

 or Prong. horn Antelope (A. furcifer), we 

 have an approach toward the cervine type. 

 The prong is situated about half way up, and 

 may be considered as analogous to the brow- 

 antler ; immediately below it the root is 

 rough, scabrous, and nodulated, being co- 

 vered also by a hairy integument {fig. 343.). 



Fig. 343. 



Horns of the Cabrit. (From a specimen in Lond. 

 ColL Surg. Museum.) 



In the Buffaloes the horns acquire a pro- 

 digious size, and the cuticular sheath forms, 

 in some instances, a thick envelope over the 

 entire forhead. 



Vertebral column and bones of the trunk. 

 Considerable disparity prevails in the length 

 of different portions of the spine, depending 

 upon the comparative elongation of the 

 individual bones, and not upon their number. 

 The following table, selected from Cuvier, 

 illustrates the trifling deviations in a nume- 

 rical point of view, the seven cervicals 

 being added and indicated in the totals : 



519 



47 

 43 

 43 

 46 

 48 

 44 

 43 

 42 

 46 

 49 



In Camelidse the bodies of the vertebras 

 of the neck are much lengthened {fig. 323.), 

 but it is in the Giraffe (fig. 345.) that we see 

 the most remarkable conformity to the cer- 

 vical type in this respect. The spinous pro- 

 cesses of this division of the column are 

 lessened in all mammiferous animals in pro- 

 portion to the length of the cervix, and 

 therefore we find them in the above men- 

 tioned ruminants almost entirely effaced (ex- 

 cept in the seventh vertebrae) to admit of 

 free motion backward. This action is further 

 facilitated in the Camels and in the Giraffe by 

 the ball and socket-like conformation of the 

 articular ends of each vertebral body, as 

 pointed out by Profs. De Blainville and 

 Owen. The anterior extremity of the " cen- 

 trum " is convex (fig. 344.), and the poste- 



Fig. 344. 



Section of the cervical vertebra of the Camel. 

 ColL Surg. Museum.) 



(From 



rior concave, but there is no intervertebrai 

 synovial apparatus as seen in reptiles. The 

 transverse processes in the short-necked 

 typical ruminants are compressed, and form 

 double " apophyses " on either side. The 

 anterior or inferior pair are directed forward, 

 and the posterior or superior project laterally, 

 their common expanded base being pierced 

 for the passage of the vertebral artery. In 

 the latter particular, a similar arrangement 

 obtains in the Giraffe, but the openings are 

 placed nearer the spinal canal, because the 

 transverse processes are feebly developed, as 

 in all other long-necked ruminants. The 

 Camels and Llamas do not exhibit the per- 

 foration in question. In them, the vertebral 

 arteries enter the posterior opening of the 

 great neural canal, external to the dura-matral 

 sheath, and in this position they are partly 

 lodged in a groove at the base of the superior 

 lamina. At the anterior part of the bone 

 this channel becomes arched over for a short 

 space, and converted into a distinct passage 



L L 4 



