46 PROFESSOR OWEN ON THE AYE-AYE. 



dorsal to the penultimate lumbar, beyond which there is a slight bend in the 

 opposite direction to and including the sacrum. The bodies of the dorsal vertebree 

 gradually lengthen and deepen as they approach the loins, with a narrower and at 

 last almost carinate under surface. The last two ribs join their own centrum close to the 

 front intervertebral space ; the rest have the usual intervertebral articulation of the 

 head. The first rib is the shortest (9 lines) and thickest ; the others increase in length 

 to the ninth, and then gradually shorten to the thirteenth, which is I inch 3 lines in 

 length. The tubercle and diapophysial articulation exist to the eleventh rib ; the 

 twelfth and thirteenth articulate only by the head. The diapophysis, longest on the 

 first dorsal, very gradually shortens to the eleventh, where the beginnings of the meta- 

 pophysis and anapophysis are manifest. These processes become widely separated in 

 the twelfth and thirteenth dorsals, and the diapophysis is lost. The neural spines are 

 of equal length throughout the dorsal series ; suddenly extending to 3^ lines on the first, 

 they gain gradually in fore-and-aft extent from the fifth dorsal to the last (Pi. XIX. d). 

 The vertical spine is on the eleventh dorsal, towards which the rest of the dorso-lumbar 

 series slightly incline. 



The vertebrae go on increasing in size to the fifth of the lumbar series, — the diapo- 

 physes more especially, which recommence in the first lumbar ; these processes are 

 directed forward and downward, as well as outward, are truncate, with the anterior angle 

 a little produced (d, fig. 8, PI. XXI.) ; that of the last lumbar is similar in shape and 

 direction, but is smaller than the two preceding. The anapophysis (ib. a) overlaps the 

 front margin of the following vertebrae to the fifth lumbar, in which it becomes too 

 short ; it disappears in the sixth. The metapophysis (ib. m) overhangs the back part 

 of the neural arch of the preceding vertebra. The neural spine decreases from the 

 third to the last lumbar (PI. XIX. l), where it has 3 lines of length. The cartilage 

 of the first rib is flattened, 5^ lines long, and 2^ lines broad ; in the rest it is more 

 slender and rounded, increasing in length to the tenth, where it equals in length the 

 bony part, and is attached to near the end of the ninth cartilage, which is the last 

 that joins the sternum ; the remaining cartilages are pointed, and rapidly shorten to 

 the thirteenth, which is 8 lines long [ib. h). The first cartilage articulates with the 

 manubrium (PI. XXI. h, 59), the second to the seventh inclusive with the joints of 

 seven sternebers, the eighth with the seventh sterneber, and the ninth to the joint 

 between the seventh and eighth sterneber {ib. h, ei). Of these eight bones, the first, from 

 its superior size, carinate outer surface, and clavicular articulations, is termed the 

 ' manubrium ;' the next six are narrow in proportion to their length, and similar in size 

 and shape. The last, long and slender, may be regarded as the peduncle of the broad 

 ' cartilago ensiformis.' 



The bodies of the cervical vertebrae are broad, short, and flattened below in the last 

 five. The last three (PI. XXI. fig. 6, 5, e,?) have no neural spines : there are tubercular 

 beginnings of these in the fourth and third ; in the second it is 2 lines long, thick, and 



