VoLXii.-j Shufeldt, Osteology of Cereopsis novcc-hollandice . 223 



carotid canal in the fifth. This latter extends to include the 

 fifteenth cervical, being broad and open in the anterior part of its 

 course, to become narrower and more enclosed as we pass back- 

 ward. At the sides of the cervicals the pleurapophyses are long, 

 and terminate with a well-marked process on either side, 

 posteriorly ; they assist in most effectually closing in the long 

 vertebral canals. In the seventeenth vertebra they assume the 

 form of a rudimentary rib ; but it is not free, being still fused with 

 the transverse process and centrum of the vertebra on either side. 

 However, in the eighteenth vertebra their places are taken by a 

 pair of long, free ribs that support " epipleural appendages." 



It may be remarked here that, with the exception of the atlas, 

 the entire skeleton of the trunk in Cereopsis novce-liollandicv is 

 more or less pneumatic, air being very freely admitted to most 

 all the ]:)one through foramina occupying their usual sites when 

 present. 



Throughout the cervico-dorsal region of the spine the neural 

 canal is of a cylindrical form, quite uniform in calibre, being of 

 but moderate capacity. 



As in other existing Anseres, the cervical vertebrct of Cereopsis 

 are all heterocoelous. 



In the dorsal region of the s]")inal column of this Goose we find 

 four vertebrae, and these, in life, are very intimately articulated 

 with each other. Their neural spines are thick, somewhat lofty, 

 and their superior borders are likewise much thickened, being 

 anteriorly and posteriorly extended in order to lock with each other, 

 which is accomplished by the anterior end of each being bluntly 

 pointed to fit into a corresponding notch on the hinder end of the 

 superior border of the neural spine in front of it. 



These neural spines are moderately lashed together by the 

 ossification of the tendons of certain muscles of the back. Similar 

 ossifications on the dorsal aspects of the outer ends of the trans- 

 verse processes of these vertebrae, in conjunction with the 

 metapophyses, tend to still further bind the dorsal vertebrae 

 together. The centra of these vertebra; do not exhibit much 

 lateral compression, and they are pierced here and there by 

 pneumatic foramina of various sizes. 



For each pair of ribs the facets are slightly raised, and are to 

 be found far forward on the centrum of each vertebra. The 

 neural canal is of considerable calibre, and in the articulated 

 skeleton may be seen into through the circular vacuities formed 

 between each contiguous pair of vertebrcC by the articulating of 

 their pre- and post-zygapophyses. 



There is a low, lamina-like spine on the first dorsal vertebra, and 

 a more conspicuous one on the second, which is bifid below ; but 

 after that these zygapophyses are absent. (Fig. 25, Plate XXXIII.) 



Rather broad antero-])osteriorly, the dorso-vertebral ribs, in the 

 skeleton of Cereopsis at hand, are transversely much compressed. 

 Their free borders are sharp, and about at the middle of the 

 posterior one of each there is found an anchylosed epipleural 



