222 Shufeldt, Osteology of Cereopsis nov(V-hoUandicB. \ i^f^\^n\\ 



of Cereopsis, I shall be obliged to omit a description of those 

 parts which ossify in the larynx, trachea, and bronchial portions 

 of the air-passages of this Goose. 



On the Remainder of the Axial Skeleton in Cereopsis 

 nov.e-hollandi.e. 



The Vertebral Column. — Most Geese agree very closely in the 

 number of vertebrae any species may possess in its spinal column. 

 Branta canadensis, Chen hyperboreus, and the Goose now under 

 consideration all have i8 vertebrae in the cervical division of the 

 spine that are without free ribs. These are followed by the 

 nineteenth and twentieth, each of which has a pair of free ribs, 

 but they do not reach the sternum. From the twenty-first to 

 the twenty-fourth, inclusive, they are true dorsals ; while in 

 Cereopsis and Branta, from the twenty-fifth to the forty-third, 

 inclusive, are sacral vertebrae co-ossified with the pelvis. In the 

 case of Chen the sacrum only includes the forty-first. Not 

 including the pygostyle, the vertebrae in the tail of Cereopsis are 

 from the forty-fourth to the forty-eighth inclusive ; in Branta, 

 from the forty-fourth to the forty-ninth inclusive ; and in Chen, 

 from the forty-second to the forty-seventh inclusive. In all this 

 Anser albifrons agrees, with the exception that, in that Goose, 

 only the nineteenth vertebra possesses a pair of free ribs which 

 do not connect, through hiemapophyses, with the sternum. 



Atlas vertebra has an antero-posteriorly broad neural arch, 

 which is smooth dorsally and unsurmounted by any neural spine, 

 while a rudimentary haemal process is found, mesial) y, on the arch 

 below the atlantal cup for the occipital condyle. Laterally, the 

 vertebral canals are closed in to the outer side, in either case, by a 

 mere slender span of bone of hair-like calibre. These last are 

 somewhat stouter in the axis vertebra, which has a large quadrate 

 haemal spine, and a low, thick neural one, situated far back on 

 the still thicker neural arch. 



After passing the axis, a neural spine is found ui)()n the third 

 cervical to the ninth, inclusive, it being, up to include the eighth, 

 a long, low lamina of bone, with a smooth convex superior margin. 



On the ninth vertebra it occupies a middle place on the centrum, 

 and is much shorter antero-posteriorly, but has the same convex 

 superior border. In the tenth cervical there is a low, rudimentary 

 neural spine, which, in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, has 

 almost disappeared. In the fourteenth, fiJ'teenth, and sixteenth 

 it is antero-posteriorly notched, giving the process a l)ifid appear- 

 ance. In the seventeenth, and still more in the eighteenth, it 

 assumes the quadrate form of the neural spine in the dorsal series 

 of vertebrae. 



Pre- and post-zygapophyses in the third and fourth cervicals 

 are joined by hair-like spans of bone ; but in the fifth they have 

 disappeared all to their endings. 



There is a long, low h?emal spine on the third cervical, which is 

 rudimentary in the fourth, and makes way for the ending of the 



