— 123 — 



as shown in the illustration of the 5th vertebra caudalis (fig. 26), and is then 

 distinguished by a crest-like broadening upward and a protuberance situated 

 posterioily a little below the middle. Furthermore in the 7th and 8th vertebra 

 caudalis the spinous processus immediately becomes much smaller (fig. 27). in 

 the ninth the position becomes horizontal and more to the rear the entire process 

 vanishes. The 17th and 18th vertebra caudalis (fig. 31) show nothing but an 

 insignificant rudiment of the spinous process. The size of the anterior articular 

 process at first diminishes relatively little towards the rear (see fig. 28, the 

 illustration of the 10th and 11th vertebra caudalis); on the 16th and I7th 

 vertebra caudalis (fig. 31) they have however dwindled away so as to be 

 hardly visible. 



The transverse process in the first few vertebrae caudales again conform 

 entirely wrth those of the adjoining vertebrae lumbales; it stands to reason that 

 also these processes gradually dwindle to a smaller size. On the 5th vertebra 

 caudalis (fig. 26) the lateral processes have already shrunk to a roundish part 

 on the side of the vertebral centrum and, unlike the transverse processes in 

 caudal vertebrae in general, are located not anteriorly but in a more posterior 

 position on the body of the vertebra. More to the rear of the column the position 

 of the dwindling transverse processes shifts more and more towards the forepart 

 of the vertebral body, so that in the 11th vertebra caudalis (as shown in the 

 figure 28) it protrudes slightly before the plane of the bone and coalesces with 

 this posteriorly. The succeeding vertebra however presents this aspect only in 

 a slight measure. 



In the 8th to 12th vertebra caudalis it is seen that the foot of the transverse 

 process is perforated so as to yield passage to nerves and blood-vessels 

 (fig. 28 & 29). This perforation, however, only commences on the right hand 

 side in the 8th vertebra caudalis; only with the 9th vertebra caudalis does the 

 perforation appear symmetrically on both the right and the left. 



More to the rear, i.e. between the 12th and 16th vertebra caudalis, there is 

 on the lateral surface of the vertebral body a groove ending below in a hole 

 yielding access the subvertebral caudal canal, a broad longitudinal depression 

 that receives the main caudal bloodvessels (fig. 29 & 30). 



In these last 9 to 10 vertebrae (fig. 32) all processes have vanished, also 

 the lateral groove is no longer there, the only thing that remains clearly visible 

 down to the very last vertebra being the hole to which the groove leads. 



The 51st vertebra, marked in the illustration of the end of the tail by a 



