DISEASES OF THE SKELETON. 397 



CHAPTER IX.— DISEASES OF THE SKELETON. 



The Skeleton of the ox is heavy and comparatively 

 simple. The skull is large^ for the face has to accommo- 

 date the huge grinding teeth. It also is peculiarly bent 

 upon the cranium. The f rentals especially are well 

 developed^ occupying the whole of the upper part of the 

 cranium, prolonged on each side as a horn core and per- 

 meated throughout by sinuses, which contain heated air, 

 and lessen the weight of the head. The cervical vertebras 

 are short and stout, and ligamentum nuchae is well developed, 

 but special in its character, having a layer of it on each 

 side lying externally to complexus major. The lumbar 

 region is composed of stout bones with long non-articulatory 

 transverse processes. The shoulder-girdle consists of a 

 scapula, with the coracoid appended to it as a process. The 

 clavicle is only represented by a white fibrous band. 

 The humerus has a single groove at its supero-anterior 

 part, and the ulna is prolonged to the knee. The pelvic 

 girdle is principally remarkable for the large size of the 

 ischium, which (with its symphysis) inclines peculiarly 

 upwards posteriorly. Consequently the sacro-sciatic liga- 

 ment is small. The most important feature of the hip- 

 joint is the absence of the pubio-femoral ligament ; the 

 femur, therefore, has freer movement than that of the 

 horse, its trochanter major is not so much divided, and 

 there is no third trochanter. The fibula, in all but very 

 old animals, is ligamentous throughout, except where it 

 is situated below the outer side of the tibia, and assists in 

 the formation of the tarsus by articulating with os calcis. 

 Other peculiarities have been already mentioned (as at 



