Jro.4.] SIIUFELDT ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF SPEOTYTO. 99 



iiblcsize, affording abimdaut surface for attacliraeiitof sonic of the muscles 

 of the neck. The i)rocess of the first dorsal has one common trunk, with a 

 compressed midprong and two lateral and pointed subprocesses. (See 

 PI. II, Fig-. 5.) The second dorsal possesses a single long hypapophysis, 

 quadrate in form, dipping into the chest further than the first. There 

 is not a trace on the remaining dorsals of this appendix. Parapophysial 

 l^rocesses, so prominent in nearly all the cervicals, afford in the dorsal 

 vertebrfB simply articulating facets for the capitula of the pleurapophy- 

 ses situated just within the anterior margin of the neural canal of each 

 centrum, never extending to the vertebrce beyond, forming the dcmi-facet 

 of andranatomia. Immediately above these facets, on either side, may be 

 noticed a group of pneumatic foramina of varions sizes and shapes, and 

 again, anterior to these foramina, the rim of the body of the vertebra for 

 a limited distance becomes sharply concave, being opposite to a like con- 

 cavity in the next vertebra, the two, when opposed and articulated, form- 

 ing the oval foramen for the exit of the dorsal nerves. Elliptical artic- 

 ulating facets for the tubercula of the pleurapophyses, looking down- 

 wards and outwards, are seen on the inferior ends of the diapophyses, 

 with a midridge mnning from each facet to the base of the process, to 

 be expanded and lost on the sides of the centra. As there are five dor- 

 sal vertebrae, so are there ^yq, ;pleura])o;pliyses articulating with them and 

 with the hsemapophyses below. Each rib is attached to a single verte- 

 bra, as shown while speaking of the dorsals. The necks of these ribs 

 become more elongated the nearer they are to the i)elvic extremity of 

 the body, the first i)ossessing the shortest. This is exactly reversed in 

 regard to the pedicles bearing the tubercula, being the longest in the 

 first pleurapophysis and shortest in the last. This contraction of the 

 pedicles is progressively compensated for by the lengthening of the cor- 

 responding and respective diapophyses of the vertebra to which they 

 belong. Viewing the ribs from the front, in the skeleton, the curve they 

 present resembles the quadrant of a shortened ellipse, the vertex of the 

 major axis being situated at the base of the neural spines ; viewed lat- 

 erally, the curve is sigmoidal, though a much elongated and sliallow one, 

 with the hsemapophysial extremity looking forwards and the facet of 

 the tubercle backwards. The first rib is the shortest and generally, 

 though not always, the broadest ; the last being the longest and most 

 slender, the intermediate ones regularly increasing in length and dimin- 

 ishing in breadth from the first to the last. In form, the ribs of this 

 Owl are flattened from side to side, widest in the upper thirds, narrowest 

 at their middles, and club-shaped at their lower extremities, wliere they 

 articulate with the sternal ribs by shallow facets. On the inner sm-faces 

 we find the necks produced upon the bodies as ridges, running near their 

 anterior margins and becoming lost at about the junction of the upper 

 and middle thuds in the body of tbe rib. rneumatic foramina, from 

 two to three in number and of considerable size, are found just within 

 the commissure between neck and tubercle, posteriorly. All the verte- 



